Convert cert to pfx or p12 file format - powershell

Convert .crt, .csr, and .key files to .pfx or .p12 using powershell on Windows server 2016.
I have .cert, .csr, and .key files. But in order to execute the "netsh http add sslcert ..." command, I need the .pfx or .p12 file. And I need this to be done in powershell. Openssl is not an option.
I have accomplished the above using openssl. But Im restricted from downloading software now, so thats not an option any more. Im looking for equivalent of openssl pkcs12 -export -out domain.name.pfx -inkey key.key -in cert.crt command in powershell.

This is an old thread but since I was stuck on the exact same problem and finally found the correct answer that wasn't just everyone shouting to use openssl which sometimes isn't available I thought I'd share here for the next lucky soul.
There is a built-in windows utility call CertUtil which can be called from PS and will do exactly this. It's available out of the box at least as far back as server 2012, cant' speak to older versions.
certutil –MergePFX certfile.cer certfile.pfx
A couple things to keep in mind, the -MergePFX only prompts for the certfile not the key so:
Private key file must have .KEY extension.
Cert and key files must have the same base file name.
Cert and key file must be in the same directory.

If you can use .NET Core 3.0:
Load the certificate via cert = new X509Certificate2(certFile)
If the keyfile is PEM encoded (e.g. starts with "----- BEGIN ") then load it, remember what type it is (human or software), find the base64 contents between the header and footer, and run that through Convert.FromBase64String to get the BER/DER encoded format of the key.
key = RSA.Create()
key.ImportPkcs8PrivateKey(bytes, out _), key.ImportEncryptedPkcs8PrivateKey(password, bytes, out _), or key.ImportRSAPrivateKey(bytes, out _); depending on what format the private key file is in.
certWithKey = cert.CopyWithPrivateKey(key)
File.WriteAllBytes("new.pfx", certWithKey.Export(X509ContentType.Pkcs12, password))
If you can use .NET Core 2.1 / .NET Framework 4.7.2:
Load the cert, as above.
Load the key manually:
RSAPrivateKey
How to get RSACryptoServiceProvider public and private key only in c#
How to parse(Convert to RSAParameters) X.509 private key in C#?
PKCS#8 PrivateKeyInfo
Digital signature in c# without using BouncyCastle
PKCS#8 EncryptedPrivateKeyInfo
X509Certificate2.Import with NCRYPT_ALLOW_PLAINTEXT_EXPORT_FLAG (ImportEncryptedPkcs8Overwrite method)
Use CopyWithPrivateKey/Export/WriteAllBytes as above
If you're stuck on something older:
You could try loading the cert, manually loading the key into an RSACryptoServiceProvider, using cert.set_PrivateKey, and exporting that. Only works on .NET Framework (eliminated from .NET Core because it has too many side effects, especially when done to a cert already in a persisted certificate store).

Related

No Private Key when importing PFX via Import-PFXCertificate?

I have been tasked with automating installation of LetsEncrypt certficates on several Windows Server 2016 systems.
One requirement is to copy the ACL from the old private key to the new one, and so my script first identifies the unique container name from 'C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Crypto'.
Assuming that I have set the value of $Thumbprint to the correct certifciate thumbprint - which I have... then I believe should be able to locate the private key in the filesystem using:
(Get-Item "CERT:\LocalMachine\My\$Thumbprint").PrivateKey.CspKeyContainerInfo.UniqueKeyContainerName
This works great when I import the PFX using certlm.msc but not when I have imported the PFX using Powershell Import-PFXCertificate?
When imported using this cmdlet the .HasPrivateKey property is True, but the .PrivateKey property itself is empty.
I have the script working using certutil with the -ImportPfx switch which is ok, however will not accept the SecureString password.
Any help or ideas would be much appreciated.
To mods:
Symptoms here are the same as this > (PowerShell Import Pfx, and Private Key "Lost"), however the conditions are not. I am not defining my own function to import the PFX, I am using the native Powershell cmdlet Import-PfxCertificate (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/pki/import-pfxcertificate?view=windowsserver2016-ps) and therefore am unable to edit the x509 flags as described in that resolution.
In fact, it's not a PowerShell problem and keys are not lost. The problem is in underlying .NET Framework APIs.
(Get-Item "CERT:\LocalMachine\My$Thumbprint").PrivateKey
this call is obsolete since .NET 4.6. and is completely broken in .NET 4.7. See my blog post on this topic: Accessing and using certificate private keys in .NET Framework/.NET Core
What you actually, have to do is to use X509Certificate2 extension methods which will return one of the following types: RSACng, DSACng or ECDsaCng. In PowerShell, extension methods are invoked as static methods, for example:
$rsaCngKey = [System.Security.Cryptography.RSA]::GetRSAPrivateKey($cert)
These types (with "Cng" suffix) are CNG implementations and not supported by X509Certificate2.PrivateKey. In C#, this property will throw an InvalidCastException exception, but PowerShell swallows exceptions from property getters and return $null instead, which may look like "lost" key.
Every CNG private key object contains Key property (for example, RSACng.Key) which is of type of CngKey.
CngKey type has a pair of methods: GetProperty and SetProperty which you shall use in order to read and write key ACL by specifying a Security Descr as a property name.

adding SSL automation task to pipeline

I've created a power shell script that sets the SSL based on a provided PFX file.
Using the VSTS pipeline, what is the recommended way of passing PFX file to the script?
Including PFX file in a solution
getting the PFX file path on a target environment (contains dependency,
assuming that PFX file is already placed on target environment)
any other solution...?
The common way to pass authentication to the script is using option 1 (Including PFX file in a solution) as you listed.
After adding the pfx file into your solution, you can import certificates and private keys by import-PfxCertificate.
Detail usage and examples of Import-PfxCertificate, you can refer this document.

How to export base64 encoded x.509 certificate with private key without using OpenSSL

I have a Root CA certificate with .cer extension with private key.
I have to Export that certificate as .pem extension with private key in base64 encoded format without using OpenSSl.
I am not able to do this with mmc.
Is there any tool or script available for converting certificate from pfx to pem format without using openssl in windows.
Please help me by sharing code or any scripts or commands etc...
Thanks...
You could use the window's certutil tool to encode a file to Base64. Try this command:
certutil -encode {YOUR_PFX_FILE} {CONVERTED_FILE_NAME}
This command should put the appropriate certificate header too.

How to read pfx file's thumbprint without prompt for password

I have a need to obtain a thumbprint from a pfx file on the filesystem without being prompted for a password that requires manual input.
I'm running this as part of an installer where the user specifies the path to the certificate on the filesystem (Not in the store). And the user specifies the password for the certificate. From that point, i need the thumbprint.
So this is simply a matter of discovering a tool which i can pass a path and password to a pfx file and return the thumbprint. I've tried several tools, but even OpenSSL compiled for windows, and it still prompts for the password and gives back a lot more info than just the thumbprint. It needs to be 100% programmatic and without further user intervention.
I'd love to hear any ideas on how to do this. This will be on Windows Server machines only. Thanks!
I found a way to do this - it involves downloading OpenSSL for windows and using that tool to convert and using powershell to read it out.
Conversion
& openssl pkcs12 -in C:\LocalHost.pfx -out C:\mycertificates.crt -nokeys -clcerts -passin pass:ActualPassword
Read In
$cert = New-Object System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate2("C:\mycertificates.crt")
$thumbprint = $cert.Thumbprint
write-host $thumbprint
So i had to convert to crt/cer first and then read using X509Certificate2.
When creating .pfx (pkcs#12) file, the internal storage containers, called "SafeBags", may also be encrypted and signed.
By default, OpenSSL encrypts the certificate along with its private key, which means it is not possible to get its thumbprint without knowing password.
When creating a new pfx, you can explicitly add -certpbe NONE to avoid encrypting the certificate.
For more details check -certpbe OpenSSL's man page

How to embed hash in exe file with signtool.exe

I am using signtool.exe to sign exe file.
I am trying to embed my exe file with the .pfx certificate along with the signed hash of exe(generated signed hash using openssl). I am able to sign only with certificate. But I need to embed the signed hash in the exe as well. Probably signtool.exe sign /as could help. /as option does not expect any argument so not able to pass my hash there.
Could someone please help me sign my exe with certificate and hash.
Thanks,
The version of Signtool shipped with the Windows 10 SDK includes the capability to embed a signed hash into an exe.
From the following page:
https://vcsjones.com/2017/05/07/custom-authenticode-signing/
Starting in the Windows 10 SDK, two new command line switches are available, dg and di. Recall that a signature is always performed on a hash on Authenticode. The dg option changes signtool’s behavior to output a digest that you can sign using anything you’d like. Let’s try this on a copy of notepad.exe.
signtool sign /dg "C:\scratch\dir" /fd SHA256 /f public-cert.cer notepad.exe
This takes a file to a public certificate - there is no key in
public-cert.cer. You could also use the /sha1 option to specify a
certificate in the certificate store that also has only a public key.
This will output a few files in the “C:\scratch\dir” directory. The
digest is the one with the “.dig” extension. This file will have the
Base64 encoded digest to sign. Next, using your custom tool, sign the
digest with the private key for the certificate. You should decode the
Base64 signature before signing if the signing API expects a raw
binary digest.
Next, encode your signature in base64 and place it in a file in the
“C:\scratch\dir” directory with the same name as the digest file, with
the “signed” extension. For example, “notepad.exe.dig.signed”.
The next step is to ingest the signed digest along with the rest of
the Authenticode signature to complete the signing.
signtool sign /di "C:\scratch\dir" notepad.exe
This will complete the signing process, and we now have our own signed
copy of notepad.exe. Appending a signature is done just as before,
except with the /as flag.
This provides great flexibility for signers to use non CSP / CNG
signing options, or offloading the signing process. Signtool can now
also sign just a plain digest file using the /ds option. If you have a
dedicated server for performing Authenticode signing, you can now use
the /dg, /ds, /di options so that only a very small file needs to be
moved to the signing server, instead of the entirely binary if they
are large in size.