[lucb1e]

You can. It's called Javascript and there are libraries to do public key encryption.

But yes, here you are right, the cert is generated by the server in this case.

[ygjb]

Until DomCrypt[1] is implemented there is no reliable way to implement a CSPRNG in Javascript (that I am aware of!). The only way to do this securely would be to supply a page that includes some javascript to process a secret key that the user provides to the page which would then generate the CSR. It would be more effective to write all of this sites functionality into a shell script.

[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/WebCryptoAPI/

[subleq]

I did a CSPRNG in Javascript using mouse movements for entropy: https://github.com/fusionbox/mouseware

[ygjb]

I don't see a detailed analysis of your RNG that would support the claim that it is suitable for use as a CSPRNG.

[blibble]

so by doing that you're still trusting the server not to send you evil Javascript that surreptitiously posts off your private key.

it's exactly equivalent from a security perspective, unless you read every line of Javascript, in which case you might as well read the openssl manual instead and generate the CSR yourself.

(note that there's a rarely used <input> keygen type, but to sign the CSR you'd need programmatic access to the private key, again defeating any security properties).