I'm setting up a server so that only mapped certificates can get to the webservice. It is set to require SSL/Client certificates, anonymous authentication, asp.net impersonation, forms authentication, and windows authentication are all disabled. One-to-one client certificate mapping is enabled, and certs are set up on the box with an appropriate user mapping. When I try to use the webservice, I get 401.2. If I enable anonymous authentication, it works, but I don't want any old cert to be able to access the website.
I have another machine that has anonymous authentication disabled in this configuration, and it works. I'm not sure what the difference is.
I ran into the same problem, but the solution above did not solve my problem. I was configuring IIS Certificate Authentication on a subdirectory of the website, not on the website itself.
So, this is wrong:
And this is correct:
Once I moved the configuration to the root of the website, everything worked perfectly.
I found the solution at http://blogs.msdn.com/b/saurabh_singh/archive/2009/06/13/avoid-this-confusion-around-client-certificate-mapping-in-iis-6-0-7-0.aspx.
Did you issue your client certs from a Certificate Server that the clients/server trust? If you look at the "Enhanced Key Usage" property on the certificates, is "Client Authentication" one of it's properties? In IIS, is the client certificate mapping role installed (see image 1)? did you enable "Client Certificate Mapping" and map the users to the certificate? You need to import all of the client certificates and map them to user accounts here. You can remove all of the other client authentication methods when you have configured that here.
The problem ended up being the software that was calling in, not in the configuration. I'm awarding natemrice the bounty since he put in a good effort to answer what ended up being a non-question.
edit: For more information, it actually ended up being a mismatch between the cert being sent (from the local box) and the cert that was put in the oneToOne mappings. The common name was the same, but the certs were different (likely the first one expired) so the cert simply wasn't authorized.
Related
I am using ADAL.js for log-in to Azure. But getting this weird popup, in which I have to explicitly select Continue to Website. How could I avoid this?
How could I avoid this?
This popup typically means the site certificate isn't trusted by your client. Verify that the site's certificate was issued by a trusted issuer. If yes, download and copy the public portion of the cert (.cer) from the site and import into your local machine account's trusted store and that should hopefully resolve your issue.
I have a .net WEB API publicly exposed and also a Xamarin Forms App which uses the API, the app needs to be extremely secure due to the data it manages.
I will create an HTTP Certificate for the WEB API.
The Xamarin Forms app will have a login/password to validate against a local Active Directory. via a /token endpoint, and using an Authorize attribute on all endpoints to assure that every HTTP call has the bearer token in it, I implemented that using this:
I based my implementation on this one:
http://bitoftech.net/2014/06/01/token-based-authentication-asp-net-web-api-2-owin-asp-net-identity/
Additionally the customer has asked us for Client Certificate Authentication, I dont understand how this totally works.
1. I need to add a certificate to the Xamarin Project, right? How do I Add it? How do I generate it?
2. In the Web API I need to validate each http call has the certificate attached.
I found this but not sure if it will work:
http://www.razibinrais.com/secure-web-api-with-client-certificate/
However when investigating this, I also found something about certificate pinning, which is basically security but the other way around, it means the Xamarin APP will validate if the server certificate is associated with the right server (or something like that), so there is no way of a MAN IN THE MIDDLE Attack.
I found how to implement it here:
https://thomasbandt.com/certificate-and-public-key-pinning-with-xamarin
Question is:
1. Do I need both ?
Something else that I should research for on this journey?
Certificate pinning and Client Certificate Authentication are 2 very different things. Certificate pinning makes sure your app is talking to the server it expects to talk to. It also prevents eavesdropping, which is known as a 'Man in the middle' attack. I just recently wrote an article about this on my blog.
Client Certificate Authentication works the other way around. It adds an extra layer of security so your server can be sure only clients that have the certificate can communicate successfully with it. However, since apps can be decompiled without a lot of effort, this client certificate can 'easily' be obtained by a malicious user. So this isn't a silver bullet.
From my experience, Client Certificate Authentication is often used in enterprise apps, when there is an Enterprise Mobility Management solution in place (eg. Mobile Iron or Microsoft Intune or others), where the EMM solution can push the certificates to the users device out of band.
Should you use both? That really depends on the requirements of your customer, since they mitigate 2 very different problems.
The Web API link you included looks like it should do the server job properly at first sight. This article also includes how to generate a client certificate with a Powershell command.
Generating a client side certificate:
Use the Powershell command in the article that you referenced in your question.
Otherwise, this gist might help you on your way.
Installation:
Add the certificate file to each platform specific project as a resource. This is usually done in the form of a .p12 file.
Usage:
That all depends on which HttpClient you are using.
If you use the provided Web API solution, you should add the certificate contents as a X-ARR-ClientCert header with each request.
I created a self signed certificate using makecert in Microsoft's SDK. The certificate name is the same as the server and I have added it to the Trusted Root Certificate store on the client. When I look at the certificate in Chrome, it shows as ok. But when I attempt to access the site, I receive the error:
You attempted to reach [website name], but the server presented a certificate issued by an entity that is not trusted by your computer's operating system. This may mean that the server has generated its own security credentials, which Chrome cannot rely on for identity information, or an attacker may be trying to intercept your communications.
How can I get around this issue and force my operating system to trust this certificate?
the first thing to do is to test using Internet Explorer. If it doesn't work there, then something is wrong with the cert or the installation.
If it does work in I.E., then you've likely used the unqualified server hostname in the cert, and Chrome specifically does not like that. So, if you've set the common name to something like ServerName, you need to create a new cert with a fully-qualified name (such as ServerName.com) and then use that host name to access the site instead.
I issued a self signed certificate on IIS 7.5, and it is working correctly if i access my website through my computer.
However, if i access the website from another computer, i get an warning saying the certificate was issued to another address.
Is this because the certificate was issued to localhost instead of the actual IP?
Or this doesn't make any sense?
Regards,
The error message you are getting is normal, assuming you do not have anything in your certificate aside from 'localhost' to identify the owner.
Your browser is performing a name check, and looking to validate the certificate that is presented with the URL you typed in. Typically, the common name of a certificate matches the hostname/DNS name of the machine. Alternatively, there can be information inside of the Subject Alt Name (SAN) extension of your certificate. There, you could specify multiple DNS names or IPAddress fields that identify your server in addition to the CN.
If you are simply performing internal testing, I would not be terribly worried about the warning you are receiving. Just keep all of this in mind when you move to production. Also, having your CA being self-signed, you may also receive trust warnings, unless you manually import your self-signed CA certificate into the trust store of the browser you are using.
Maybe this helps you: Self signed certificates on IIS 7. At the end of the article, in the section named "Adding the Certificate to Trusted Root Certificate Authorities", an alternative solution is shown, but it implies importing the certificate in the client machine, so that could be a huge disadvantage. However, it is a solution if you can't register the certificate on a Certificate Authority, an you have access to the client machine.
Looking for some advice about the use of client certs to retro-fit access control to an existing app.
Our company has an existing intranet app (classic ASP/IIS) which we licence to others. Up till now it's been hosted within each organisation that used it and the security consisted of "if you're able to access the intranet you're able the access the application".
I'm now looking for a way to host this app externally so that other organisations who don't wish to host it themselves can use it (each new client would have their own installation).
All user in the new organisation would have a client cert so what I'd like to do is use the 'Require Client Certificate' stuff in IIS. It allows you to say "if Organisation=BigClientX then pretend they're local userY".
What I would prefer is something that says "if Organisation=BigClientX then let them access resources in virtualdirectoryZ otherwise ignore them".
I would be very happy to buy an addon (perhaps an ISAPI filter ?) which would do this for me if that was the best approach. Any advice / war stories would be welcomed.
You likely want to do this. client certs are really intended for a second factor of authentication, but not the primary source. To say it differently, you still need to configure your app for basic or forms authentication.
The technology behind public/private keys is rock solid. However, you need a very mature IT organization who is dealing with certificate lifecycle management. If you do not have this, you will get untold failure scenarios because the certificate was expired, wasn't copied to the new computer, etc.
This is especially true in your scenario where your application is internet facing (in thee 'hosted' scenario) - you have little control about the issuance of the certificates to your users.
I've done something similar...
Generate the certificates internally from your org's domain controller. Export them both as PFX format for distribution, and CER format for you to import in IIS.
Distribute the PFX format exports along with the CA certificate for your DC, so your customers machines will "trust" your CA.
Now in the app properties IIS, go to the Directory Security tab, and under "Secure Communications" click "Edit". In there, click "Accept client certificates", "Enable Client Certificate Mapping", then "Edit".
Under the 1-to-1 tab, click "Add" and import the CER file. Enter the account you'd like to map this certificate to.
As for the "let them access resources" I'd advise doing that by the user account they're mapped through - that is, you can provide access to resources based on that account either through NTFS permissions, or through code by identifying the security context of the logged-in user.