WinRM Listener Resets on Startup - powershell

I have an Azure VM running Windows Server 2016 (64-bit, 14393.1593).
It has some WinRM listeners on it, one for HTTP and one for HTTPS.
When I restart the machine, the HTTPS listener resets itself to an old configuration (hostname and thumbprint). With this, it also re-creates the corresponding server certificate.
I delete the certificate and the HTTPS listener. Using PowerShell, I recreate the listener with the desired hostname and thumbprint. The thumbprint corresponds to a certificate on the server that behaves as expected (the desired certificate isn't deleted on machine restart).
Everything works until the next machine restart, where I find that the old HTTPS listener is back, with the old hostname and thumbprint. The old thumbprint corresponds to the old certificate that I had deleted, but the old certificate came back from the grave.
Why is my HTTPS listener resetting itself?
Steps for Configuring WinRM
In Powershell, I execute the following commands.
winrm e winrm/config/listener; - Enumerates the listeners.
winrm delete winrm/config/listener?Address=*+Transport=HTTPS; - Deletes the HTTPS listener.
I then manually delete the old server certificate using either the MMC or IIS manager. I also get the thumbprint for the correct certificate.
I then execute the following PowerShell.
winrm create winrm/config/listener?Address=*+Transport=HTTPS '#{Hostname="MyIPAddress";CertificateThumbprint="MyThumbprint";port="5986"}'; - Creates a new HTTPS listener.

Related

Setting up clientCredentials Endpoint Behaviour on WCF-Custom Send Adapter

I am trying to wrap my head around how this should be set up correctly. I have two certificates, a client certificate and a service certificate. I've placed these in the MMC, on the service account for the host instance that handles the send port. So the client certificate is placed in the Personal folder and the service certificate is placed in the Trusted People folder.
I've tried using several "Find" methods to locate these certificates, such as thumbrprint and serial number, but I always get a "Certificate not found" exception back.
My current settings on the adapter.
Client certificate:
Service certificate:
My settings for Authentication:
SSL Certificate Authentication settings:
What is the correct way to add the certificates to the different stores, so that they can be located by Biztalk? I've found the MSDN documentation on the topic, but it doesn't really provide any answers: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/configure-apps/file-schema/wcf/clientcertificate-of-clientcredentials-element
You have to be logged in as the BizTalk Service Account to manage Certificates. Run As doesn't typically work.
Other than that, the instructions should be correct.

Using FtpWebRequest in Powershell to access Filezilla server with certificate

I am trying to access a Filezilla Server using FtpWebRequest in Powershell, like this:
$ftprequest = [System.Net.FtpWebRequest]::Create($sourceuri)
$ftprequest.Method = ([System.Net.WebRequestMethods+Ftp]::ListDirectoryDetails + " -a")
$ftprequest.Credentials = New-Object System.Net.NetworkCredential($username,$password)
$ftprequest.EnableSsl = $true
In Filezilla Server there is a "Generate New Certificate" which is what I used to create the certificate. This created a .crt file that Filezilla is pointing to for both the private key and certificate file.
The server is also configured with the options "Enable FTPS" and "Allow explicit FTP over TLS".
I am able to happily access the server using the Filezilla Client (although it warns that the server's certificate is unknown).
To access the server from a Powershell client, without getting complaints about the certificate, my understanding is the best thing to do is import the certificate on the client machine. I managed to do this by downloading the .crt file, manually stripping out the private key portion using Notepad, and then running:
Import-Certificate -FilePath .\filezillaCertificate.crt -CertStoreLocation cert:\CurrentUser\My
However, trying to connect using FtpWebRequest I still receive the error "The remote certificate is invalid according to the validation procedure."
Can anyone point me in the right direction?
This is not a PoSH issue. It is a pure PKI 101 (cert implementation) issue.
Self-signed certificates will always be considered untrusted in most cases, because there is no way to validate it, no public registered body for it and no public CRL (Certificate Revocation List / Authority) associated with it.
You cannot create a PKI cert for a remote location on your local machine. You must create the cert on the remote location, or buy a public cert and install it on the remote location certificate store. The public and private key must reside on the remote server / site. For any server / site, the certificate must be registered / issued to that server then manually assigned to a site (FTP/s, HTTP/s).
Then, you download the public cert from the destination and install that on your local machine. Normally installed to the local machine store. If you cannot download that public certificate and certificate chain using a browser, by clicking on the lock, after visiting the site, then you must request that the destination server/site owner send you the public cert for you to install locally. Again, normally installed to the local machine store.
I know your post is about a Filezilla server (Full Disclosure: I've never seen on used one), but the approach as shown in the articles below on setting up FTP over SSL on IIS should be similar.
FTP over SSL
The element specifies the FTP over Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
settings for the FTP service; FTP over SSL was first introduced for
IIS 7 in FTP 7.0.
Unlike using HTTP over SSL, which requires a separate port and
connection for secure (HTTPS) communication, secure FTP communication
occurs on the same port as non-secure communication. FTP 7 supports
two different forms of FTP over SSL:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/iis/configuration/system.applicationhost/sites/site/ftpserver/security/ssl
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/iis/publish/using-the-ftp-service/using-ftp-over-ssl-in-iis-7
Update to find the FileZilla SSL guidance
Install a SSL certificate on FileZilla FTP Server
https://www.tbs-certificates.co.uk/FAQ/en/FileZilla_FTP_Server.html
Installing a certificate on an OpenSSL-based server is really similar
than doing so on Apache: Install an Apache certificate, except that
the instructions indicating the path to th files are not the same!
for FTP FileZilla server, via the interface: FileZilla Server
Option -> SSL/TLS settings:
•import the private key (.key file generated along with the CSR) in
"Private key file".
•import the certificate and the certification chain in the same file:
1) on your certificate status page, download the "file.cer" file and
the certification chain "chain-xxx.txt" 2) concatenate those two
files into one 3) import the file in "Certificate file"
How to connect FTP over SSL/TLS in FileZilla?
Create Site
Go to File >> Site Manager >> New Site.
Following are the required details to fill up.
• Host: Enter Hostname(i.e. ftp.yourdomain.com) or IP address which we
have sent in Welcome e-mail. • Port: 21 (Default FTP port is 21, you
can also keep it blank). • Protocol: FTP - File Transfer Protocol. •
Encryption: Select Required explicit FTP over TLS from dropdown list.
• Logon Type: Select Normal from the dropdown list. • User: Your FTP
username. • Password: Your FTP Password.
https://manage.accuwebhosting.com/knowledgebase/761/How-to-connect-FTP-over-SSLorTLS-in-FileZilla.html
The FileZilla wiki also talks to how to do the SSL implementation.

Ansible winrm_server_cert_validation HTTPS security

I am using Ansible on a Linux computer connecting to a windows 8.1 embedded computer. It's able to connect with username and password over the HTTPS port 5986, but I need to specify the option:
ansible_winrm_server_cert_validation=ignore
The ansible documentation specifies:
The following is necessary for Python 2.7.9+ (or any older Python that
has backported SSLContext, eg, Python 2.7.5 on RHEL7) when using
default WinRM self-signed certificates:
The windows computer has an SSL listener that was configured with Self-SignedCertificates from the powershell script:
https://github.com/ansible/ansible/blob/devel/examples/scripts/ConfigureRemotingForAnsible.ps1
My question is that if I'm ignoring server cert validation, does that compromise the encryption that HTTPS is supposed to provide? or is server cert validation just a separate process of HTTPS?
Thanks
Yes, if you ignore certificate validation as recommended in the default Ansible config for WinRM, your connection is not secure - someone can spoof the target server using a man in the middle (MITM) attack on the HTTPS connection. (There should really be a security warning in the Ansible docs.)
The best alternative seems to be NTLM/Negotiate authentication, instead of HTTPS, removing the need for an SSL certificate. Your Ansible control machine will need to be able to authenticate over NTLM as a Windows user, just like using an SMB file share.
You will need pywinrm 0.2.0 or higher for NTLM/Negotiate support.
Useful links
Why NTLM/Negotiate for WinRM - background on why it's good to avoid the complex setup to install SSL certificates by using NTLM (Ruby based but still useful)
Example Ansible setup for NTLM
More complete Ansible setup including NTLM
Certificate validation is a separate process than encryption. The communication will be encrypted. You can read more on the issues with self-signed certificates but the high level is you remove any way for Ansible to validate who exactly is on the other side of the connection an open your self to a man in the middle attack that HTTPS usually protects you from.

Set TrustedHosts on Visual Studio Team Services

I'm trying to deploy a build to a VM using the Manage IIS App agent task on Visual Studio Team Services. However, when I attempt to connect via HTTP, it comes back with the following error:
The WinRM client cannot process the request. If the authentication scheme is different from Kerberos, or if the client computer is not joined to a domain, then HTTPS transport must be used or the destination machine must be added to the TrustedHosts
Unfortunately, I don't have the ability to deploy over HTTPs for reasons beyond my control so I'm trying to get around this issue by setting the VM as a trusted host, but I can't figure out how to do this using VS Online.
You can’t add trusted host to Hosted build agent (Get access is denied result if add trusted host via winrm command during build)
You can setup a new build agent and configure it to add trusted host with winrm s winrm/config/client '#{TrustedHosts="RemoteComputer"} command, after that, using this build agent to build/release.
About how to setup a new build agent, you can refer to this article.

Installing Wildcard SSL Certificate on Azure VM

I'm developing an application on Azure VM and would like to secure it by using the wildcard SSL certificate that I'm already using with my main domain. The SSL cert works with any *.mydomain.com and the application on Azure VM is accessible through myapplication.cloudapp.net
Based on the research that I've done, CNAME should be the best option to do that (I can't use A record since we need to shutdown the VMs every week and turn them back on the next week and will lose the ip addresses).
My two questions are:
How can I have myapplication.cloudapp.net be shown as subdomain.mydomain.com?
Will doing that make it possible for wildcard SSL certificate to be used for Azure application too?
How can I have myapplication.cloudapp.net be shown as
subdomain.mydomain.com?
Yes - this is just the CNAME forwarding and ensuring that the appropriate SSL certificate is installed on the server.
Will doing that make it possible for wildcard SSL certificate to be used for Azure application too?
Well as you're already exposing the Application through the VM - this should happen seemlessly.
Just a word of caution, you mention that you're using the certificate on the main domain, but haven't mentioned where you're using this. Be aware that, out-of-the-box, you can only assign one SSL per HTTPS endpoint. You can enable multiple SSL certificates on an Endpoint for Azure / IIS using Server Name Identification and can be enabled directly or automatically. If you do take this route, remember to configure your SNI bindings first, then apply the default binding - it kinda screws up otherwise.