Web Client Exception: The underlying connection was closed: Could not establish trust relationship for the SSL/TLS secure channel

Question

I have a simple app that uses the C# Web Client class to download a websites HTML. This is a stripped down sample of the code I\'m using:

WebClient wc = new Web         


        

Answer 1

To go even further building off of Leon Cullens' answer I came up with the following. Like he said in his answer, this should not be something you do as a permanent solution but in a case where you are getting this error intentionally this might help you out. This should add a little more security to situations where you do not have a choice and just need it to work.

My current situation is during development purposes I needed to use a self signed certificate and not a genuine signed certificate. This of course leads to the following error...

"The underlying connection was closed: Could not establish trust relationship for the SSL/TLS secure channel."

Here is what I did to try and make it just a little more secure and try to avoid the "middle man attacks". I tried to make this as short and simple as possible but wanted to make sure I painted the whole picture to make it easy to understand.

using System;
using System.Text;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Security;
using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;
using System.Threading;

namespace TestSecurity
{
    class TestDownload
    {
        private void client_DownloadProgressChanged(object sender, DownloadProgressChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            //Progress in the download
        }

        private void client_DownloadDataCompleted(object sender, DownloadDataCompletedEventArgs e)
        {
            //Download has completed
        }

        private bool client_RemoteCertificateValidation(object sender, X509Certificate certificate, X509Chain chain, SslPolicyErrors sslPolicyErrors)
        {
            if (sslPolicyErrors == SslPolicyErrors.RemoteCertificateChainErrors)
            {
                //Check to make sure the domain is correct
                X509Certificate2 certificate_details = (X509Certificate2)certificate;
                if (certificate_details.Thumbprint == "91A92CA60555DB51BEDDFE1AE4ECE54C8EBEBA97")
                {
                    #region Fingerprint for certificate
                    string storedFingerprint = "" +
                    "42048c788db687ed84407da10f78182e3487d1fc31c07ee131151f4e19b360ad2a8c452c2e7d614a5691d5479787fe70dabd" +
                    "64617465732e626c75656172726f77646576656c6f706d656e742e636f6d3110300e06035504080c0747656f72676961311f" +
                    "301d060355040a0c16426c7565204172726f7720446576656c6f706d656e74310b3009060355040613025553312f302d0609" +
                    "2a864886f70d0109011620737570706f727440626c75656172726f77646576656c6f706d656e742e636f6d31123010060355" +
                    "04070c09436c6576656c616e64301e170d3136303232393231313733335a170d3137303232383231313733335a3081b03129" +
                    "302706035504030c20757064617465732e626c75656172726f77646576656c6f706d656e742e636f6d3110300e0603550408" +
                    "42048c788db687ed84407da10f78182e3487d1fc31c07ee131151f4e19b360ad2a8c452c2e7d614a5691d5479787fe70dabd" +
                    "0613025553312f302d06092a864886f70d0109011620737570706f727440626c75656172726f77646576656c6f706d656e74" +
                    "2e636f6d3112301006035504070c09436c6576656c616e6430820122300d06092a864886f70d01010105000382010f003082" +
                    "010a0282010100a1cdf5af6f1bba5cc8495d8061895f39858fde814f5581266505bf4cbe0b26506278bc247963bb7c42f0b8" +
                    "b00638871932ed7d0a3c6562be8e5b513f24da2768051acde875b53bf94c8ea2cec397145db206b2524c42a2019a0bfa14e2" +
                    "a7ef0d311235e07b7e0363345fd7f397e365c0865b1b8fa8ad7eebdc1fcdce360db04f2822438621534ae10744155a710641" +
                    "9a69c16745974a37c5b06917036351b92c06540a6c70aa776c143eef6f7b8ec31c0c40a9eab8a399c9065bea688ea7bd1db2" +
                    "30af56d2ca0f8983f9e8dacb5613755fbcd8229d7042668a9130468a7480a2afde8c18bab895472ddf1ed2c49291c04e8cc2" +
                    "ff24db33d231b3a2498c03a5650203010001a34d304b301d0603551d0e0416041476b5c2c82ff138b87c0e2d6c046af4c634" +
                    "55040a0c16426c75652048c1f54dcb82e3487d1fc31c07ee1313fba9204c7b3232ba9204c7b323a021abcbda85bfca9c9931" +
                    "092a864886f70d01010b050003820101001ab0dfd318cc2e93a997445d0950ffcb63544c58fe1ded6e234aa7ccdcb5c890b1" +
                    "61b51ae08c1f54dcb3fbeca9c9932bde91d202b89c0b6f0af1a370017fa9f6a021abcbda85bfecebebc6d6067d4dc1e51ec5" +
                    "02cf95867516a84f01410cf80d7af4f0d3e9a86cf7b0323dba9204c7b3232c58b2289032a12aaa1ec4f64065da8bbde4fe47" +
                    "42048c788db687ed84407da10f78182e3487d1fc31c07ee131151f4e19b360ad2a8c452c2e7d614a5691d5479787fe70dabd" +
                    "de819522bb7ef870595d9738a6acdd39b7fcf6f36948ef2b404c2b6d7ebe577555148ad90013a5c2e812b2b907c808288040" +
                    "0db6702407585328f7e6c84b40451384391783001174d0";
                    #endregion

                    //Use the following to get the server's fingerprint to be saved and compared against
                    StringBuilder hex = new StringBuilder(certificate_details.RawData.Length * 2);
                    foreach (byte b in certificate_details.RawData)
                        hex.AppendFormat("{0:x2}", b);
                    string serverFingerprint = hex.ToString();

                    if (serverFingerprint == storedFingerprint) return true;
                    else return false;
                }
                else return false;
            }
            else if (sslPolicyErrors == SslPolicyErrors.None)
                return true;
            else
                return false;
        }

        public void TestDownload(Uri targetURL, bool useCredentials, string user, string pass)
        {
            WebClient client = new WebClient();
            bool taskCompleted = false;

            //Create the event handlers to monitor progress
            client.DownloadProgressChanged += new DownloadProgressChangedEventHandler(client_DownloadProgressChanged);
            client.DownloadDataCompleted += new DownloadDataCompletedEventHandler(client_DownloadDataCompleted);
            ServicePointManager.ServerCertificateValidationCallback += new RemoteCertificateValidationCallback(client_RemoteCertificateValidation);

            //Resolve the host
            IPHostEntry host = Dns.GetHostEntry(targetURL.Host);
            IPAddress ip = (host.AddressList.Length > 0 ? host.AddressList[0] : null);

            //Show the UI the resolved host

            //Account for credentials
            if (useCredentials)
            {
                NetworkCredential credentials = new NetworkCredential(
                    user,
                    pass);
                client.Credentials = credentials;
            }
            else client.Credentials = null;

            //Download file
            client.DownloadDataAsync(targetURL, taskCompleted);

            //Go to sleep until the file download has completed
            do { Thread.Sleep(500); } while (client.IsBusy);

            //File download complete

            //Destory the event handlers as they are no longer needed
            ServicePointManager.ServerCertificateValidationCallback -= client_RemoteCertificateValidation;
            client.DownloadProgressChanged -= client_DownloadProgressChanged;
            client.DownloadDataCompleted -= client_DownloadDataCompleted;
        }
    }
}