diff --git a/easyrsa3/easyrsa b/easyrsa3/easyrsa
index 7870d2c..1b6b020 100755
--- a/easyrsa3/easyrsa
+++ b/easyrsa3/easyrsa
@@ -1498,7 +1498,7 @@ Failed to change the private key passphrase. See above for error messages."
 update_db() {
 	verify_ca_init
 
-	easyrsa_openssl ca -utf8 -updatedb || die "\
+	easyrsa_openssl ca -utf8 -updatedb ${EASYRSA_PASSIN:+-passin "$EASYRSA_PASSIN"} || die "\
 Failed to perform update-db: see above for related openssl errors."
 	return 0
 } # => update_db()