I have desktop AIR app which has been signed with a valid certificate from Chosensecurity. The certificate will expire later this month.
When it expires, will it affect the apps that has been already installed? And will I be able to keep letting users download/install this same version? Of course, if a new version of the app is released, I'd have to renew the certificate but for few months there will not be a new version.
As long as you set a timestamp when you apply the codesigning, that particular module is good forever. (or at least until/if the certificate is revoked, not expired).
Expiring is a normal process that does not effect older signed modules.
Applying the timestamp looks something like this in Windows:
signtool.exe sign /v /f $(ProjectDir)..\DennisSign.pfx /t http://timestamp.verisign.com/scripts/timestamp.dll $(TargetPath)
Related
I am trying to run certutil -repairstore and keep getting prompted for a smart card. This is a VM on AWS and a smart card is not an option. Any thoughts on how to bypass the smart card and get the repair to complete are appreciated
One of the other answers touched on it, but I wanted to add some context/detail as well as I spent a lot of time searching for the root of this problem. Killing the smart card-related services did not work, nor did disabling the related policy with gpedit.
When you run certutil with the -repairstore option, Windows runs through its list of CSPs (Configuration Service Providers), one of which is the "Microsoft Smart Card Key Storage Provider" - that's the one that causes the prompt to enter your smart card. As the above answer stated, the most likely cause is that you are attempting to install a certificate file (.crt, .cer, .pem, etc.) that does not have a corresponding key on the VM, so Windows is cycling through the various CSPs looking for a valid key but cannot find one. There are two possible solutions to this problem:
You should generate your CSR (Certificate Signing Request) through IIS > Server Certificates > Create Certificate Request. This will ensure that the key is generated locally and the appropriate key store is aware of it. Use that CSR to get your certificate from GoDaddy or whoever your provider is, then you should be able to go to IIS > Server Certificates > Complete Certificate Request to install the certificate and avoid certutil altogether.
If you still can't get it to work and are sure the key was generated locally, the -csp option for certutil will allow you to specify which CSP to use when validating the certificate thereby eliminating the need for Windows to try the smart card CSP. You can get the installed CSPs on your system by running certutil -csplist - the "Provider Name" value is what you pass to certutil. For example, certutil -csp "Microsoft Software Key Storage Provider" -repairstore ... would force certutil to validate against the Microsoft Software Key Storage Provider. Make sure you use quotes since there are spaces in the names.
Make sure you make the original certificate request on the same windows server where the domain is hosted. Then complete the request with the p7b provided by the ssl supplier and you won't have any problems.
This question might be a bit old but I came across this error with another cause:
I have mutliple servers trying to import the certificate.
However, the cert request was generated from one server. In that case, I imported to the original server which create the request and export everything from the mmc (including private key) and re-import the pfx file to the over servers.
Try to add -silent to the command
I need to sign an enterprise Windows Store app I've developed ,so that users can sideload it into their devices.
I'm in the process of obtaining a code signing certificate from GoDaddy. A lot of the next steps are still hazy for me - any additional details will be appreciated.
What I've done so far
The application is tested, and I was able to deploy it on machines that have a developer license.
Purchased a code signing certificate from Daddy but didn't know what to do next (based on past experience I thought I needed to generate a key pair and a certificate signing request on my developer machine)
Called GoDaddy support who said I actually need a driver signing certificate rather than a code signing certificate. The cost was the same so they instantly switched my purchase.
It turns out there is an automatic process for generating a CSR on Windows, but you have to use Internet Explorer for that. Apparently, the cryptographic stuff is somehow handled transparently by Internet Explorer and the GoDaddy website. I would love to know more about what is actually going on there.
As part of the process you need to provide the legal name and official address / phone of the software publisher (my client in this case).
Once you submit the request, it has to be approved by GoDaddy (who should somehow verify that I am authorized by the publisher to sign code on its behalf).
Next steps
I assume GoDaddy will need to receive some documents from the publisher. I'd love to know how that process works and how long it takes.
Once the certificate is issued, I expect there will again be some easy way to install it on my development machine. Question: is there a way to move the keys and the certificate to another machine?
I also expect Visual Studio (I'm using 2012 Express edition for Windows 8) to be able to use the certificate when creating app packages. Will I need to do some special setup for that or will it be straightforward (part of the "Create app package" wizard) ?
Some of the details I've put on the certificate signing request will eventually be visible on the actual certificate (visible to the persons installing the application). Which ones?
After completing the process here are my own answers:
It turns out the GoDaddy support representative was wrong when
advising me to use a driver signing certificate. I needed a code signing certificate.
The certificate does not show the details of the contact person (which are included in the certificate signing request). You can see the certificate details before you submit the request (I missed it initially). In my case the details shown are the company name, city, state and country.
The documentation requirements depend on the company requesting the certificate (in some cases they may not need any documents at all). GoDaddy has very friendly support, so you should can the requirements from them. The process can take a few days to complete (but they may be able to help in doing it faster).
When using Internet Explorer both for the certificate request phase and installation phase, the process is seamless. I believe it uses Microsoft's Certificate Enrollment API (which is also described in this MSDN blog post)
As mentioned by JP Alioto, the process for using the certificate is described in the article "Signing an app package (Windows Store apps)". To use the new certificate in a specific project:
Open the projects .appxmanifest file
Go to the "Packaging" tab
Next to the publisher field, click "Choose Certificate"
In the dialog that pops up click "Configure Certificate" and select the drop down option "Pick from certificate store ..". The certificate should be available as one of the options.
To export a certificate, you can use the following process:
Run certmgr.msc
Locate the certificate
Right-click > All Tasks > Export to launch the certificate export wizard, which has an option to export the private key
Warning: the private key is supposed to be personal and you should protect it. It is probably OK if you copy it to another machine that you control (assuming nobody can snatch it in transit). Sharing it with someone else may be risky. I was not able to find information about how exactly the private key is used by Windows, but it may be a bad idea to have several people share a private key.
To import the certificate and private key from a PFX file, right click on the file in Windows Explorer, and elect "Install PFX". This will launch a straight-forward "Certificate Import Wizard".
Lots of stuff there. :) There are are few documents you need to read:
Deploying Metro style apps to businesses
How to Add and Remove Apps
Signing an app package (Windows Store apps)
Reading and understanding these documents will give you a better idea of what's going on. Are you sure the enterprise you're deploying for does not already have a trusted root certificate that they deploy to their desktop images? If they do, it may be easier to use that private key to sign the app. (The only reason a public certificate authority is recommended is that you will then not have to deploy the certificate to the target machines.)
You can move certificates (and private keys unfortunately) in the evil PFX format which is basically a PKCS #12 portable key file. But, be very careful how you move that file around. It contains both your public key and your encrypted private key.
Microsoft's SmartScreen Filter under Windows 8 is a small developer's worst nightmare.
While I realize the benefits to end users and the effectiveness at stopping malicious programs from installing themselves on end users' computers, I and many other developers would rather not pay the fees for annual renewal of a Code Signing Certificate or, even worse, an EV Code Signing Certificate. Also, when products developed for use in-house are signed with a trusted certificate from an internal CA, stored in the Trusted Publishers store, they still fall prey to the filter's overzealous behavior.
Developers and Administrators used to be able to disable the warnings and prompts by installing a publisher's Code Signing Certificate in the Trusted Publishers store. Creative developers could install their self-signed Code Signing Certificate there when they install a pre-requisite signed and timestamped with a paid-for Authenticode Code Signing Certificate. After that, programs signed by the publisher would be trusted and would not trip the SmartScreen Filter alarms. Essentially, once trusted, a publisher was free from the recurring fees.
The recent changes to the SmartScreen Filter (and its inclusion as an OS "feature" in Windows 8) make it clear Microsoft wants you to buy a code signing certificate instead of creatively working around the problem they've created for you. Has anyone discovered a new method to trust publishers who use their self-signed Code Signing Certificates by default (i.e., not showing the prompts)? Short of turning off the filter completely, what can end users do to let the SmartScreen Filter know to always trust a Self-Signed certificate?
Please note that purchasing a Code Signing Certificate is not an answer to this question. I'm looking for a way to tell SmartScreen Filter to trust a publisher that does not purchase certificates from an outside source, but instead issues their own for use inside their organization.
UPDATE: I think I might have found a workaround! From MSDN, SmartScreen Filter can be disabled on Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10 for sites listed as Trusted Sites. If someone could verify that this method works for setup programs downloaded and run from a Trusted Site in Windows 8, that would be greatly appreciated and would help a lot of ISV's and in-house development teams. It would also be the workaround needed to answer this question. Trusted Sites can be configured by group policy, so it would be simple from there.
Programmatically, turning off SmartScreen Filter for the Trusted Sites Zone can be achieved by setting either HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\2!2301 for the machine or HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\2!2301 for the user to 0, and adding the site to be trusted to the Trusted Sites Zone can be done as shown in this question.
Could someone please verify that my proposed workaround functions on Windows 8 for an unsigned or self-signed executable downloaded from a Trusted Site? I'm not using Windows 8 myself, having spent my OS upgrade budget on certificate fees.
To quote from MSDN's website:
Detractors may claim that SmartScreen is “forcing” developers to spend
money on certificates. It should be stressed that EV code signing
certificates are not required to build or maintain reputation with
SmartScreen. Files signed with standard code signing certificates and
even unsigned files continue to build reputation as they have since
Application Reputation was introduced in IE9 last year. However, the
presence of an EV code signing certificate is a strong indicator that
the file was signed by an entity that has passed a rigorous validation
process and was signed with hardware which allows our systems to
establish reputation for that entity more quickly than unsigned or
non-EV code signed programs.
In other words, EV (paid) validation is just one factor in a large algorithm that determines whether the SmartScreen warning is displayed or not. If you have a lot of people that download your program, or if your program download link has not changed in a while, with some work you can get your program not to show the warning. Also, by digitally signing your code, you can increase your Appication Reputation. This is straight from Microsoft's webpage on the topic.
Using a 90 day trial of Windows 8 from Microsoft, I've been able to verify that my workaround does indeed work. If you want to pay for a code signing certificate once and only once instead of paying annual fees, this method should work for you as well, but I can't make any guarantees. My solution is per-machine, but should be easy to convert to work per-user.
This is my solution:
Set up your own certificate infrastructure.
Publish copies of your root CA certificate, any intermediate CA certificates issued by your root, and any code signing certificates issued by your intermediate CA's to your website as .cer files.
Install an SSL certificate on your website that was issued by your Root CA.
Create an installer/downloader application that performs the following tasks:
Installs the root CA certificate (from your website, step 2) into the Trusted Root Certification Authorities store for the end user's machine.
Disables SmartScreen Filter for the Trusted Sites internet zone by setting HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\2!2301 to 0.
Adds your website to the zone map by adding the registry key(s) HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\yourdomain.com\yoursubdomain.
Maps your domain to the Trusted Sites zone by creating a DWORD named https with a value of 2 in the key created in the previous step.
Purchase a code signing certificate from a member of Microsoft's Trusted Root program, preferably an EV certificate.
Before your purchase, make sure the certificate and timestamping scheme used by the CA for your code signing certificate will not result in OID's 1.3.6.1.4.1.311.10.3.13 or 1.3.6.1.4.1.311.10.3.14, as these would make the signature expire when the certificate expires, whether it's timestamped or not.
Sign and timestamp your downloader/installer with the certificate purchased in step 5. Verify the absence of lifetime limitations on the signature. If everything is ok, you can put your purchased code signing certificate in a safe place and lock it away.
Publish your downloader/installer program to your website. Make it a pre-requisite download for all your products.
From this point on, you can use code signing certificates (and other certificates, for that matter) issued by your own internal certificate authorities without SmartScreen Filter being a nuisance.
The worst warning I’ve received using this method so far has been “This type of file could harm your computer.” That's the typical "You're downloading an executable file!" warning. It doesn’t hide the Run option and does not appear for ClickOnce deployments using the bootstrap webpage generated by clicking “Publish” in VS2010.
Thanks for all the comments and links.
I have found a really easy way to bypass the filter even without admin privileges. What you need to do is:
Open notepad
Type in the following line: #%*
Save the file as "SkipSmartScreen.bat" (yes, with the quotes) in the same folder as your app. You can rename the batch file later
To launch your app, drag your exe on to the batch file
This will then bypass smartscreen filter.
Tested on Windows 10 Home, Pro, and Enterprise, and Windows 8 Pro.
How it works:
# - This is just for looks, it hides the name of the command being executed
%* - This expands to all command line arguments passed (e.g. the file you dropped on the batch file
The whole thing: It executes the file through the batch file as if it was a line in the batch file. For some reason, Windows does not do any check on files which are executed from a batch file.
Here is good explanation how to turn off the SmartScreen:
- Windows SmartScreen - Turn On or Off in Windows 8
- Uncheck option in Folder Options
What I used and what worked for me? It was "option one" from first link:
Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Action Center icon.
In the left pane of Action Center, click/tap on the Change Windows SmartScreen settings link.
If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.
Select (dot) the option for how you want Windows SmartScreen to handle unrecognized programs, then click/tap on OK.
NOTE: The default option is to Get administrator approval before running an unrecognized app from the internet.
When finished, you can close the Action Center if you like.
I hope that this is what you were looking for. :)
Old question but I recently had the same issue where I needed to download a small installation package down to a user's pc for them to execute.
But as always SmartScreen was blocking the download...
A workaround that I discovered is to package your installer file in a .zip (or the likes) and then have the user download this compressed file and execute the installer within.
This is at least the "prettiest" solution that I had to use in my scenario.
This method saves you from having any kind of certificates assigned to your files. You just need your users to trust you, but this will bypass the SmartScreen Filter.
I hope this can be used as a workaround for your issue.
I need to change the code signing certificate for my app. I can build the new version with the correct certificate, but users will need to completely uninstall the old version manually before being able to install the new one.
Is there any way in Flash Builder to sign it with both certificates so that the certificate is also updated and further versions can be built and installed as usual?
If your app was originally signed using Air 1.5.2 or above, you can use a process called a 'migration certificate' which allows you to create a chain of trusted certificates. Essentially you sign with your new certificate and migrate with your old certificate, and all should be well.
Unfortunately if your app was created with Air 1.5.1 or below, this isn't available.
You get a period of 6 months from the expiry of the original certificate in which to do the migration signing - more info here:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/AIR/1.5/devappsflex/WS13ACB483-1711-43c0-9049-0A7251630A7D.html
I create a MSI through Wix, it works well, however when I publish my MSI to Internet and download it from IE or Chrome, after download finished, the security scanner assumes my MIS is not a common download file type, has potential risk.
Can you give me some clues?
Thanks
To bundle what we know now and create a answer:
This problem occurs because the application is not trusted, in order to make it trusted it has to be signed with a code signing certificate. This ensures the end-user that your application is not altered in any way and should be safe to execute. Code signing certificates can be bought at multiple places such as:
http://www.instantssl.com
http://www.verisign.com
http://www.thawte.com
https://www.globalsign.com
In addition to that, you could generate a certificate yourself which after adding it to the local Trusted Root Certificate's should act like it is trusted, please note that this is only for testing purposes and does not make it trusted on any other computer.
Signing an MSI is always a good idea, as the UAC prompt for an unsigned MSI is different than for one with a valid digital signature.
For more information on how to do this, refer to MSDN - How to: Sign Setup Files with SignTool.exe (Windows Installer)
If you want a certificate trusted by standard Windows PCs you will need a Microsoft Authenticode Code Signing Certificate signed by a trusted third party, personally I use Comodo - http://www.instantssl.com/code-signing/