Question

Does WebClient.DownloadFile support secure http (HTTPS) connections?

Asked by: htn5ca

Does the DownloadFile method in the WebClient class support https protocol?  If so how can I double check to see the certificate?

WebClient wc = new WebClient();
wc.DownloadFile("HTTPS://some website\file.exe","C:\file.exe");

                                  
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Asked On
2009-10-11 at 21:52:22ID24803639
Tags

https

,

secure

,

http

,

ssl

,

c#

,

webclient

,

DownloadFile

Topics

C# Programming Language

,

Miscellaneous Security

,

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

Participating Experts
1
Points
125
Comments
5

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Answers

 

by: TheLearnedOnePosted on 2009-10-12 at 09:04:18ID: 25552374

WebClient is a simple wrapper for an HttpWebRequest, and I don't believe that it can handle HTTPS and certificates.  The HttpWebRequest has the ClientCertificates collection that you can use to pass in the certificates that you want to use.

 

by: htn5caPosted on 2009-10-12 at 13:32:24ID: 25554745

So would you suggest that I just create my own wrapper class for handling https?  If so could you give me a quick example, I think have to get the byte[] then convert it into a file.
Thanks

 

by: TheLearnedOnePosted on 2009-10-12 at 13:37:13ID: 25554784

Let's see if this is what you need...

How to send a client certificate by using the HttpWebRequest and HttpWebResponse classes in Microsoft Visual C# .NET
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/895971

//Uncomment the following code if you need a proxy. The boolean true is used to bypass the local address.
//WebProxy proxyObject = new WebProxy("Your Proxy value",true); 
//GlobalProxySelection.Select = proxyObject;
 
// Obtain the certificate. 
try
{
	//You must change the path to point to your .cer file location. 
	X509Certificate Cert = X509Certificate.CreateFromCertFile("C:\\mycert.cer");
	// Handle any certificate errors on the certificate from the server.
	ServicePointManager.CertificatePolicy = new CertPolicy();
	// You must change the URL to point to your Web server.
	HttpWebRequest Request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("https://YourServer/sample.asp");
	Request.ClientCertificates.Add(Cert);
	Request.UserAgent = "Client Cert Sample";
	Request.Method = "GET";
	HttpWebResponse Response = (HttpWebResponse)Request.GetResponse();
	// Print the repsonse headers.
	Console.WriteLine("{0}",Response.Headers);
	Console.WriteLine();
	// Get the certificate data.
	StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(Response.GetResponseStream(), Encoding.Default);
	int count;
	char [] ReadBuf = new char[1024];
	do
	{
		count = sr.Read(ReadBuf, 0, 1024);
		if (0 != count)
		{
			Console.WriteLine(new string(ReadBuf));
		}
						
	}while(count > 0);
}
catch(Exception e)
{
	Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
}
	
 
//Implement the ICertificatePolicy interface.
class CertPolicy: ICertificatePolicy
{
	public bool CheckValidationResult(ServicePoint srvPoint, 
X509Certificate certificate, WebRequest request, int certificateProblem)
	{
		// You can do your own certificate checking.
		// You can obtain the error values from WinError.h.
 
		// Return true so that any certificate will work with this sample.
		return true;
	}
}
                                              
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by: htn5caPosted on 2009-10-15 at 20:11:25ID: 25586821

I am not sure about creating a client certificate because all I want to do is just GET a webpage, which just happens to be a file.  I actually checks all the properties of HttpWebRequest and HttpWebResponse after I made the initial connection.  The request.ServicePoint has all the information you need to double check.  It has the port number used (443 is usually for https), request.ServicePoint.Certificate actually shows all the properties of that certificate issued to that server.  If I am incorrect then please let me know but it seems as if HttpWebRequest does all the processing of SSL.  

Stream responseStream=null;
            // A WebException is thrown if HTTP request fails
            // Create an HttpWebRequest using WebRequest.Create (see .NET docs)!
            HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(uri);
            request.AuthenticationLevel = System.Net.Security.AuthenticationLevel.MutualAuthRequired;
            // Execute the request and obtain the response stream
            HttpWebResponse response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();
            responseStream = response.GetResponseStream();

 

by: TheLearnedOnePosted on 2009-10-16 at 05:12:37ID: 25588717

I don't work with SSL and HttpWebRequest very much, so the details are a little fuzzy for me, so if you are getting certificates without adding them, then go with that.  

Your question was about the WebClient supporting SSL, and I tried to say that I didn't think it supported it, since it was an over-simplified wrapper for an HttpWebRequest.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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