diff --git a/nixos/modules/module-list.nix b/nixos/modules/module-list.nix
index 07774dd1d29..ac24c61e0aa 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/module-list.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/module-list.nix
@@ -854,6 +854,7 @@
   ./services/security/shibboleth-sp.nix
   ./services/security/sks.nix
   ./services/security/sshguard.nix
+  ./services/security/step-ca.nix
   ./services/security/tor.nix
   ./services/security/torify.nix
   ./services/security/torsocks.nix
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/security/step-ca.nix b/nixos/modules/services/security/step-ca.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b749ec6e56d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/security/step-ca.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+{ config, lib, pkgs, ... }:
+let
+  cfg = config.services.step-ca;
+  settingsFormat = (pkgs.formats.json { });
+in
+{
+  options = {
+    services.step-ca = {
+      enable = lib.mkEnableOption "the smallstep certificate authority server";
+      openFirewall = lib.mkEnableOption "opening the certificate authority server port";
+      package = lib.mkOption {
+        type = lib.types.package;
+        default = pkgs.step-ca;
+        description = "Which step-ca package to use.";
+      };
+      address = lib.mkOption {
+        type = lib.types.str;
+        example = "127.0.0.1";
+        description = ''
+          The address (without port) the certificate authority should listen at.
+          This combined with <option>services.step-ca.port</option> overrides <option>services.step-ca.settings.address</option>.
+        '';
+      };
+      port = lib.mkOption {
+        type = lib.types.port;
+        example = 8443;
+        description = ''
+          The port the certificate authority should listen on.
+          This combined with <option>services.step-ca.address</option> overrides <option>services.step-ca.settings.address</option>.
+        '';
+      };
+      settings = lib.mkOption {
+        type = with lib.types; attrsOf anything;
+        description = ''
+          Settings that go into <filename>ca.json</filename>. See
+          <link xlink:href="https://smallstep.com/docs/step-ca/configuration">
+          the step-ca manual</link> for more information. The easiest way to
+          configure this module would be to run <literal>step ca init</literal>
+          to generate <filename>ca.json</filename> and then import it using
+          <literal>builtins.fromJSON</literal>.
+          <link xlink:href="https://smallstep.com/docs/step-cli/basic-crypto-operations#run-an-offline-x509-certificate-authority">This article</link>
+          may also be useful if you want to customize certain aspects of
+          certificate generation for your CA.
+          You need to change the database storage path to <filename>/var/lib/step-ca/db</filename>.
+
+          <warning>
+            <para>
+              The <option>services.step-ca.settings.address</option> option
+              will be ignored and overwritten by
+              <option>services.step-ca.address</option> and
+              <option>services.step-ca.port</option>.
+            </para>
+          </warning>
+        '';
+      };
+      intermediatePasswordFile = lib.mkOption {
+        type = lib.types.path;
+        example = "/run/keys/smallstep-password";
+        description = ''
+          Path to the file containing the password for the intermediate
+          certificate private key.
+
+          <warning>
+            <para>
+              Make sure to use a quoted absolute path instead of a path literal
+              to prevent it from being copied to the globally readable Nix
+              store.
+            </para>
+          </warning>
+        '';
+      };
+    };
+  };
+
+  config = lib.mkIf config.services.step-ca.enable (
+    let
+      configFile = settingsFormat.generate "ca.json" (cfg.settings // {
+        address = cfg.address + ":" + toString cfg.port;
+      });
+    in
+    {
+      assertions =
+        [
+          {
+            assertion = !lib.isStorePath cfg.intermediatePasswordFile;
+            message = ''
+              <option>services.step-ca.intermediatePasswordFile</option> points to
+              a file in the Nix store. You should use a quoted absolute path to
+              prevent this.
+            '';
+          }
+        ];
+
+      systemd.packages = [ cfg.package ];
+
+      # configuration file indirection is needed to support reloading
+      environment.etc."smallstep/ca.json".source = configFile;
+
+      systemd.services."step-ca" = {
+        wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
+        restartTriggers = [ configFile ];
+        unitConfig = {
+          ConditionFileNotEmpty = ""; # override upstream
+        };
+        serviceConfig = {
+          Environment = "HOME=%S/step-ca";
+          WorkingDirectory = ""; # override upstream
+          ReadWriteDirectories = ""; # override upstream
+
+          # LocalCredential handles file permission problems arising from the use of DynamicUser.
+          LoadCredential = "intermediate_password:${cfg.intermediatePasswordFile}";
+
+          ExecStart = [
+            "" # override upstream
+            "${cfg.package}/bin/step-ca /etc/smallstep/ca.json --password-file \${CREDENTIALS_DIRECTORY}/intermediate_password"
+          ];
+
+          # ProtectProc = "invisible"; # not supported by upstream yet
+          # ProcSubset = "pid"; # not supported by upstream upstream yet
+          # PrivateUsers = true; # doesn't work with privileged ports therefore not supported by upstream
+
+          DynamicUser = true;
+          StateDirectory = "step-ca";
+        };
+      };
+
+      networking.firewall = lib.mkIf cfg.openFirewall {
+        allowedTCPPorts = [ cfg.port ];
+      };
+    }
+  );
+}