X509_dup.pod: add caveat that extra data is not copied and hints, e.g., to use X509_up_ref() instead

Reviewed-by: Tom Cosgrove <tom.cosgrove@arm.com>
Reviewed-by: Tomas Mraz <tomas@openssl.org>
(Merged from https://github.com/openssl/openssl/pull/23043)

(cherry picked from commit 66adaf2b31bb51e00ffad784f60bdf195e5dd736)

1 files changed, 13 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/doc/man3/X509_dup.pod b/doc/man3/X509_dup.pod
index 9e70ffea13..c6206e1759 100644
--- a/doc/man3/X509_dup.pod
+++ b/doc/man3/X509_dup.pod
@@ -359,6 +359,15 @@ algorithms from providers. This created object can then be used when loading
 binary data using B<d2i_I<TYPE>>().
 
 B<I<TYPE>_dup>() copies an existing object, leaving it untouched.
+Note, however, that the internal representation of the object
+may contain (besides the ASN.1 structure) further data, which is not copied.
+For instance, an B<X509> object usually is augmented by cached information
+on X.509v3 extensions, etc., and losing it can lead to wrong validation results.
+To avoid such situations, better use B<I<TYPE>_up_ref>() if available.
+For the case of B<X509> objects, an alternative to using L<X509_up_ref(3)>
+may be to still call B<I<TYPE>_dup>(), e.g., I<copied_cert = X509_dup(cert)>,
+followed by I<X509_check_purpose(copied_cert, -1, 0)>,
+which re-builds the cached data.
 
 B<I<TYPE>_free>() releases the object and all pointers and sub-objects
 within it.
@@ -376,6 +385,10 @@ the object or NULL on failure.
 
 B<I<TYPE>_print_ctx>() returns 1 on success or zero on failure.
 
+=head1 SEE ALSO
+
+L<X509_up_ref(3)>
+
 =head1 HISTORY
 
 The functions X509_REQ_new_ex(), X509_CRL_new_ex(), PKCS7_new_ex() and