Swift iOS Client Certificate Authentication

Question

The web service I want to consume requires a client certificate. How can I send my certificate to it?

To further elaborate I don\'t understand how to create the

Answer 1

In order to respond to the authentication challenge you need to extract the identity from your client certificate.

struct IdentityAndTrust {

    var identityRef:SecIdentityRef
    var trust:SecTrustRef
    var certArray:NSArray
}

func extractIdentity(certData:NSData, certPassword:String) -> IdentityAndTrust {

    var identityAndTrust:IdentityAndTrust!
    var securityError:OSStatus = errSecSuccess

    var items:Unmanaged<CFArray>?
    let certOptions:CFDictionary = [ kSecImportExportPassphrase.takeRetainedValue() as String: certPassword ];

    // import certificate to read its entries
    securityError = SecPKCS12Import(certData, certOptions, &items);

    if securityError == errSecSuccess {

        let certItems:CFArray = items?.takeUnretainedValue() as CFArray!;
        let certItemsArray:Array = certItems as Array
        let dict:AnyObject? = certItemsArray.first;

        if let certEntry:Dictionary = dict as? Dictionary<String, AnyObject> {

            // grab the identity
            let identityPointer:AnyObject? = certEntry["identity"];
            let secIdentityRef:SecIdentityRef = identityPointer as! SecIdentityRef!;

            // grab the trust
            let trustPointer:AnyObject? = certEntry["trust"];
            let trustRef:SecTrustRef = trustPointer as! SecTrustRef;

            // grab the certificate chain
            var certRef:Unmanaged<SecCertificate>?
            SecIdentityCopyCertificate(secIdentityRef, &certRef);
            let certArray:NSMutableArray = NSMutableArray();
            certArray.addObject(certRef?.takeRetainedValue() as SecCertificateRef!);

            identityAndTrust = IdentityAndTrust(identityRef: secIdentityRef, trust: trustRef, certArray: certArray);
        }
    }

    return identityAndTrust;
}

In NSURLSessionDelegate respond to the authentication challenge like this:

public func URLSession(session: NSURLSession, didReceiveChallenge challenge: NSURLAuthenticationChallenge, completionHandler: (NSURLSessionAuthChallengeDisposition, NSURLCredential?) -> Void) {

    let bundle:NSBundle = NSBundle(forClass: self.dynamicType);
    let bundleCertPath:NSString = bundle.pathForResource("clientCertificateName", ofType: "p12")!;
    let certData:NSData = NSData(contentsOfFile: bundleCertPath as String)!;
    let identityAndTrust:IdentityAndTrust = self.certificateHelper.extractIdentity(certData, certPassword: "C00lp@assword");

    if challenge.protectionSpace.authenticationMethod == NSURLAuthenticationMethodClientCertificate {

        let urlCredential:NSURLCredential = NSURLCredential(
                identity: identityAndTrust.identityRef,
                certificates: identityAndTrust.certArray as [AnyObject],
                persistence: NSURLCredentialPersistence.ForSession);

        completionHandler(NSURLSessionAuthChallengeDisposition.UseCredential, urlCredential);


    } else {

        // nothing here but us chickens
    }
}

Answer 2

I am using last xcode and swift version, and this code work for me, using a client certificate .pfx, based on Bins Ich answer:

 func extractIdentity(certData:NSData) -> IdentityAndTrust { 
    var identityAndTrust:IdentityAndTrust!
    var securityError:OSStatus = errSecSuccess
    var items:Unmanaged<CFArray>?
    let certOptions:CFDictionary = [ kSecImportExportPassphrase.takeRetainedValue() as String: "password" ];

    // import certificate to read its entries
    securityError = SecPKCS12Import(certData, certOptions, &items);

    if securityError == errSecSuccess {
        let certItems:CFArray = items?.takeUnretainedValue() as CFArray!;
        let certItemsArray:Array = certItems as Array
        let dict:AnyObject? = certItemsArray.first;
        if let certEntry:Dictionary = dict as? Dictionary<String, AnyObject> {

            // grab the identity
            let identityPointer:AnyObject? = certEntry["identity"];
            let secIdentityRef:SecIdentityRef = identityPointer as! SecIdentityRef!;

            // grab the trust
            let trustPointer:AnyObject? = certEntry["trust"];
            let trustRef:SecTrustRef = trustPointer as! SecTrustRef;

            // grab the cert
            let chainPointer:AnyObject? = certEntry["chain"];
            let chainRef:SecCertificateRef = chainPointer as! SecCertificateRef;
            let  certArray:CFArrayRef = chainRef as! CFArrayRef

            identityAndTrust = IdentityAndTrust(identityRef: secIdentityRef, trust: trustRef, certArray:  certArray);
        }
    }
    return identityAndTrust;
}

func connection(connection: NSURLConnection, willSendRequestForAuthenticationChallenge challenge: NSURLAuthenticationChallenge) {

    let strTemp = challenge.protectionSpace.authenticationMethod

    if(strTemp == NSURLAuthenticationMethodServerTrust) {
         challenge.sender.continueWithoutCredentialForAuthenticationChallenge(challenge)
    }

    if(strTemp == NSURLAuthenticationMethodClientCertificate) {

        let certFile = NSBundle.mainBundle().pathForResource("mycert", ofType:"pfx")

        let p12Data = NSData(contentsOfFile:certFile!)
        let identityAndTrust:IdentityAndTrust = extractIdentity(p12Data!)

        let urlCredential:NSURLCredential = NSURLCredential(
            identity: identityAndTrust.identityRef,
            certificates:identityAndTrust.certArray as [AnyObject],
            persistence: NSURLCredentialPersistence.Permanent)

        challenge.sender.useCredential(urlCredential ,forAuthenticationChallenge:challenge)
    }
}

Answer 3

Find in this Gist the Swift3 working implementation :

https://gist.github.com/celian-m/8da09ad293507940a0081507f057def5

Answer 4

Technically, when someone I know needed the implementation in Swift, he used the following Objective-C implementation in order to get the NSURLCredential object to the connection; based on the private key and X509 Certificate pair contained in a PKCS12 keystore.

Sorry, I don't have access to the source with the Swift solution. All I know is that the NSURLCredential was returned to Swift, and used directly in the http url connection there. It's similar to this one, though.

I'm not an iOS dev so I won't be able to help you out with the "bridging to Swift" part.

- (void)getMessageWithURL:(NSString *)url {

    NSURL *URL = [NSURL URLWithString:url];

    NSMutableURLRequest *request = [[NSMutableURLRequest alloc] init];
    [request setURL:URL];
    [request setHTTPMethod:@"GET"];
    NSURLConnection *connection = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self];
    [connection self];
}

- (void)postMessageWithURL:(NSString *)url withContent:(NSString *)content {

    NSData *postData = [content dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
    NSString *postLength = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d", [postData length]];

    NSURL *myURL = [NSURL URLWithString:url];
    NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:myURL cachePolicy:NSURLRequestReloadIgnoringLocalCacheData timeoutInterval:60];

    [request setHTTPMethod:@"POST"];
    [request setValue:postLength forHTTPHeaderField:@"Content-Length"];
    [request setValue:@"application/json" forHTTPHeaderField:@"Content-Type"];
    [request setHTTPBody:postData];

    NSURLConnection *connection = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self];
    [connection self];

}

- (BOOL)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection canAuthenticateAgainstProtectionSpace:(NSURLProtectionSpace *)protectionSpace {
    return [protectionSpace.authenticationMethod isEqualToString:NSURLAuthenticationMethodServerTrust];
}

- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveAuthenticationChallenge:(NSURLAuthenticationChallenge *)challenge {
    NSLog(@"didReceiveAuthenticationChallenge");
}

- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response {
    responseData = [[NSMutableData alloc] init];
}

- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didReceiveData:(NSData *)data {
    [responseData appendData:data];
}

- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection didFailWithError:(NSError *)error {
    NSLog(@"Unable to fetch data");
    NSLog(@"%@", error);
}

- (void)connectionDidFinishLoading:(NSURLConnection *)connection {
    NSLog(@"Succeeded! Received %lu bytes of data", (unsigned long)[responseData
            length]);

    NSString *responseString = [[NSString alloc] initWithData:responseData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
    NSLog(@"%@", responseString);

    [bridge callHandler:handlerName data:responseString];

}

- (void)connection:(NSURLConnection *)connection willSendRequestForAuthenticationChallenge:(NSURLAuthenticationChallenge *)challenge {

    /*
    Reading the certificate and creating the identity
    */
    NSArray *paths = NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES);
    NSString *documentsDirectory = paths[0]; // Get documents directory

    NSData *p12data = [CertificateManager getP12Data]; //returns essentially a byte array containing a valid PKCS12 certificate

    if (!p12data) {
      return;
      NSAssert(p12data, @"Couldn't load p12 file...");
    }

    CFStringRef password = CFSTR("password");

    const void *keys[] = {kSecImportExportPassphrase};
    const void *values[] = {password};
    CFDictionaryRef optionsDictionary = CFDictionaryCreate(NULL, keys, values, 1, NULL, NULL);
    CFArrayRef p12Items;

    OSStatus result = SecPKCS12Import((__bridge CFDataRef) p12data, optionsDictionary, &p12Items);

    if (result == noErr) {
        CFDictionaryRef identityDict = CFArrayGetValueAtIndex(p12Items, 0);
        SecIdentityRef identityApp = (SecIdentityRef) CFDictionaryGetValue(identityDict, kSecImportItemIdentity);

        SecCertificateRef certRef;
        SecIdentityCopyCertificate(identityApp, &certRef);

        SecCertificateRef certArray[1] = {certRef};
        CFArrayRef myCerts = CFArrayCreate(NULL, (void *) certArray, 1, NULL);
        CFRelease(certRef);

        NSURLCredential *credential = [NSURLCredential credentialWithIdentity:identityApp certificates:nil persistence:NSURLCredentialPersistenceNone];
        CFRelease(myCerts);

        [[challenge sender] useCredential:credential forAuthenticationChallenge:challenge];
    }
    else {
        // Certificate is invalid or password is invalid given the certificate
        NSLog(@"Invalid certificate or password");
        NSError *error = [NSError errorWithDomain:NSOSStatusErrorDomain code:result userInfo:nil];
        return;
    }
}

EDIT: Har har, very funny, downvoting me twice when you yourself didn't bother while the bounty was up. *grumble *

Anyways, to use the following above, you just need to access it from Swift.

func connection(connection: NSURLConnection, willSendRequestForAuthenticationChallenge challenge: NSURLAuthenticationChallenge) {
    if let p12Data = UserManager.currentP12,
       let credential = CertificateManager.getCredentialsForP12(p12Data) as? NSURLCredential {
            challenge.sender.useCredential(credential, forAuthenticationChallenge: challenge)
    } else {
        UIApplication.sharedApplication().networkActivityIndicatorVisible = false
    }   
}

That uses this.

+ (id)getCredentialsForP12:(NSData *)p12 {
    NSData* p12data = p12;
    const void *keys[] = {kSecImportExportPassphrase};
    const void *values[] = {CFSTR("thePassword")};
    CFDictionaryRef optionsDictionary = CFDictionaryCreate(NULL, keys, values, 1, NULL, NULL);
    CFArrayRef p12Items;
    OSStatus result = SecPKCS12Import((__bridge CFDataRef) p12data, optionsDictionary, &p12Items);
    if (result == noErr) {
        CFDictionaryRef identityDict = CFArrayGetValueAtIndex(p12Items, 0);
        SecIdentityRef identityApp = (SecIdentityRef) CFDictionaryGetValue(identityDict, kSecImportItemIdentity);
        SecCertificateRef certRef;
        SecIdentityCopyCertificate(identityApp, &certRef);
        SecCertificateRef certArray[1] = {certRef};
        CFArrayRef myCerts = CFArrayCreate(NULL, (void *) certArray, 1, NULL);
        CFRelease(certRef);

        NSURLCredential *credential = [NSURLCredential credentialWithIdentity:identityApp certificates:nil persistence:NSURLCredentialPersistenceNone];
        CFRelease(myCerts);
        return credential;

    }
    else {
        // Certificate is invalid or password is invalid given the certificate
        NSLog(@"Invalid certificate or password");

        UIAlertView* av = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"Error" message:@"Invalid cert or pass" delegate:nil cancelButtonTitle:@"ok" otherButtonTitles: nil];
        [av show];
        NSError *error = [NSError errorWithDomain:NSOSStatusErrorDomain code:result userInfo:nil];
        return nil;
    }

EDIT: A swift version of the above is here, although it was messy enough that we rather just didn't use it.

            var p12items : Unmanaged<CFArrayRef>?

            let index: CFIndex = 1
            let password: CFString = "password"
            let key = kSecImportExportPassphrase.takeRetainedValue() as String
            var values = [unsafeAddressOf(password)]
            var keys = [unsafeAddressOf(key)]

            var keyCallbacks = kCFTypeDictionaryKeyCallBacks
            var valueCallbacks = kCFTypeDictionaryValueCallBacks

            let length: CFIndex = p12Data.length
            let p12CfData: CFData = CFDataCreate(kCFAllocatorDefault, UnsafePointer<UInt8>(p12Data.bytes), length)

            let options = CFDictionaryCreate(kCFAllocatorDefault, &keys, &values, index, &keyCallbacks, &valueCallbacks)
            let result = SecPKCS12Import(p12CfData, options, &p12items)

            if result == noErr {

                let idIndex: CFIndex = 0
                var items = p12items?.takeRetainedValue()
                var identityDict = CFArrayGetValueAtIndex(items!, idIndex) 

                var key = kSecImportItemIdentity.takeRetainedValue() as String
                var keyAddress = unsafeAddressOf(key)
                var identityApp: SecIdentityRef = CFDictionaryGetValue(identityDict, keyAddress) 
                var certRef : Unmanaged<SecCertificateRef>?
                SecIdentityCopyCertificate(identityApp, &certRef)

                var cert: SecCertificateRef = certRef!.takeRetainedValue()
                var certArray = [unsafeAddressOf(cert)]
                var arrayCallback = kCFTypeArrayCallBacks
                var myCerts: CFArrayRef = CFArrayCreate(kCFAllocatorDefault, &certArray, index, &arrayCallback);

                let credential: NSURLCredential = NSURLCredential(identity: identityApp, certificates: [AnyObject](), persistence: NSURLCredentialPersistence.None)