Click here to Skip to main content
15,879,535 members
Articles / Web Development / IIS

DPAPI and Triple DES: A powerful combination to secure connection strings and other application settings

Rate me:
Please Sign up or sign in to vote.
4.77/5 (47 votes)
26 Aug 20056 min read 133.1K   1.7K   85  
This article shows how DPAPI and Triple DES can be used to encrypt connection strings and other sensitive strings for storage in the ASP.NET web.config file.
using System;
using System.Text;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

namespace Foulds.Security.Encryption
{
	/// <author>Hannes Foulds, 11 August 2005</author>
	/// <summary>
	/// This class is a wrapper around the Windows Data Prrotection API.
	/// </summary>
	public class DataProtection : EncryptionBase
	{
		#region DPAPI Structure Definitions and Constants
		[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet=CharSet.Unicode)]
		internal struct DATA_BLOB
		{
			public int cbData;
			public IntPtr pbData;
		}

		[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet=CharSet.Unicode)]
		internal struct CRYPTPROTECT_PROMPTSTRUCT
		{
			public int cbSize;
			public int dwPromptFlags;
			public IntPtr hwndApp;
			public String szPrompt;
		}

		static private IntPtr NullPtr = ((IntPtr)((int)(0)));
		private const int CRYPTPROTECT_UI_FORBIDDEN = 0x1;
		private const int CRYPTPROTECT_LOCAL_MACHINE = 0x4;
		#endregion

		#region Enumerations
		public enum Store {USE_MACHINE_STORE = 1, USE_USER_STORE};
		#endregion

		#region Declarations
		private Store _store;
		#endregion

		#region Constructor
		/// <summary>
		/// Initialize a default instance of the class.
		/// </summary>
		/// <param name="store"></param>
		public DataProtection(Store store)
		{
			this._store = store;
		}
		#endregion

		#region Exernal Functions
		[DllImport("Crypt32.dll", SetLastError=true, CharSet=System.Runtime.InteropServices.CharSet.Auto)]
		private static extern bool CryptProtectData(
			ref DATA_BLOB pDataIn, 
			String szDataDescr, 
			ref DATA_BLOB pOptionalEntropy,
			IntPtr pvReserved, 
			ref CRYPTPROTECT_PROMPTSTRUCT pPromptStruct, 
			int dwFlags, 
			ref DATA_BLOB pDataOut);

		[DllImport("Crypt32.dll", SetLastError=true, CharSet=System.Runtime.InteropServices.CharSet.Auto)]
		private static extern bool CryptUnprotectData(
			ref DATA_BLOB pDataIn, 
			String szDataDescr, 
			ref DATA_BLOB pOptionalEntropy, 
			IntPtr pvReserved, 
			ref CRYPTPROTECT_PROMPTSTRUCT pPromptStruct, 
			int dwFlags, 
			ref DATA_BLOB pDataOut);

		[DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet=System.Runtime.InteropServices.CharSet.Auto)]
		private unsafe static extern int FormatMessage(int dwFlags, 
			ref IntPtr lpSource, 
			int dwMessageId,
			int dwLanguageId, 
			ref String lpBuffer, int nSize, 
			IntPtr *Arguments);
		#endregion

		#region Encrypt
		/// <summary>
		/// Encrypt the plaintext using the DPAPI.
		/// </summary>
		/// <param name="plainText"></param>
		/// <param name="optionalEntropy"></param>
		/// <returns></returns>
		public override byte[] Encrypt(byte[] plainText, byte[] optionalEntropy)
		{
			bool retVal = false;

			DATA_BLOB plainTextBlob = new DATA_BLOB();
			DATA_BLOB cipherTextBlob = new DATA_BLOB();
			DATA_BLOB entropyBlob = new DATA_BLOB();

			CRYPTPROTECT_PROMPTSTRUCT prompt = new CRYPTPROTECT_PROMPTSTRUCT();
			InitPromptstruct(ref prompt);

			int dwFlags;
			try
			{
				try
				{
					int bytesSize = plainText.Length;
					plainTextBlob.pbData = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(bytesSize);
					if(IntPtr.Zero == plainTextBlob.pbData)
					{
						throw new Exception("Unable to allocate plaintext buffer.");
					}
					plainTextBlob.cbData = bytesSize;
					Marshal.Copy(plainText, 0, plainTextBlob.pbData, bytesSize);
				}
				catch(Exception ex)
				{
					throw new Exception("Exception marshalling data. " + ex.Message);
				}
				if(Store.USE_MACHINE_STORE == this._store)
				{//Using the machine store, should be providing entropy.
					dwFlags = CRYPTPROTECT_LOCAL_MACHINE|CRYPTPROTECT_UI_FORBIDDEN;
					//Check to see if the entropy is null
					if(null == optionalEntropy)
					{//Allocate something
						optionalEntropy = new byte[0];
					}
					try
					{
						int bytesSize = optionalEntropy.Length;
						entropyBlob.pbData = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(optionalEntropy.Length);;
						if(IntPtr.Zero == entropyBlob.pbData)
						{
							throw new Exception("Unable to allocate entropy data buffer.");
						}
						Marshal.Copy(optionalEntropy, 0, entropyBlob.pbData, bytesSize);
						entropyBlob.cbData = bytesSize;
					}
					catch(Exception ex)
					{
						throw new Exception("Exception entropy marshalling data. " + 
							ex.Message);
					}
				}
				else
				{//Using the user store
					dwFlags = CRYPTPROTECT_UI_FORBIDDEN;
				}
				retVal = CryptProtectData(ref plainTextBlob, "", ref entropyBlob, 
					IntPtr.Zero, ref prompt, dwFlags, 
					ref cipherTextBlob);
				if(false == retVal)
				{
					throw new Exception("Encryption failed. " + 
						GetErrorMessage(Marshal.GetLastWin32Error()));
				}
			}
			catch(Exception ex)
			{
				throw new Exception("Exception encrypting. " + ex.Message);
			}
			byte[] cipherText = new byte[cipherTextBlob.cbData];
			Marshal.Copy(cipherTextBlob.pbData, cipherText, 0, cipherTextBlob.cbData);
			return cipherText;
		}
		#endregion

		#region Decrypt
		/// <summary>
		/// Decrypt the cipher text using the DPAPI.
		/// </summary>
		/// <param name="cipherText"></param>
		/// <param name="optionalEntropy"></param>
		/// <returns></returns>
		public override byte[] Decrypt(byte[] cipherText, byte[] optionalEntropy)
		{
			bool retVal = false;
			DATA_BLOB plainTextBlob = new DATA_BLOB();
			DATA_BLOB cipherBlob = new DATA_BLOB();
			CRYPTPROTECT_PROMPTSTRUCT prompt = new CRYPTPROTECT_PROMPTSTRUCT();
			InitPromptstruct(ref prompt);
			try
			{
				try
				{
					int cipherTextSize = cipherText.Length;
					cipherBlob.pbData = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(cipherTextSize);
					if(IntPtr.Zero == cipherBlob.pbData)
					{
						throw new Exception("Unable to allocate cipherText buffer.");
					}
					cipherBlob.cbData = cipherTextSize;  
					Marshal.Copy(cipherText, 0, cipherBlob.pbData, cipherBlob.cbData);
				}
				catch(Exception ex)
				{
					throw new Exception("Exception marshalling data. " + ex.Message);
				}
				DATA_BLOB entropyBlob = new DATA_BLOB();
				int dwFlags;
				if(Store.USE_MACHINE_STORE == this._store)
				{//Using the machine store, should be providing entropy.
					dwFlags = CRYPTPROTECT_LOCAL_MACHINE|CRYPTPROTECT_UI_FORBIDDEN;
					//Check to see if the entropy is null
					if(null == optionalEntropy)
					{//Allocate something
						optionalEntropy = new byte[0];
					}
					try
					{
						int bytesSize = optionalEntropy.Length;
						entropyBlob.pbData = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(bytesSize);
						if(IntPtr.Zero == entropyBlob.pbData)
						{
							throw new Exception("Unable to allocate entropy buffer.");
						}
						entropyBlob.cbData = bytesSize;
						Marshal.Copy(optionalEntropy, 0, entropyBlob.pbData, bytesSize);
					}
					catch(Exception ex)
					{
						throw new Exception("Exception entropy marshalling data. " + 
							ex.Message);
					}
				}
				else
				{//Using the user store
					dwFlags = CRYPTPROTECT_UI_FORBIDDEN;
				}
				retVal = CryptUnprotectData(ref cipherBlob, null, ref entropyBlob, 
					IntPtr.Zero, ref prompt, dwFlags, 
					ref plainTextBlob);
				if(false == retVal)
				{
					throw new Exception("Decryption failed. " + 
						GetErrorMessage(Marshal.GetLastWin32Error()));
				}
				//Free the blob and entropy.
				if(IntPtr.Zero != cipherBlob.pbData)
				{
					Marshal.FreeHGlobal(cipherBlob.pbData);
				}
				if(IntPtr.Zero != entropyBlob.pbData)
				{
					Marshal.FreeHGlobal(entropyBlob.pbData);
				}
			}
			catch(Exception ex)
			{
				throw new Exception("Exception decrypting. " + ex.Message);
			}
			byte[] plainText = new byte[plainTextBlob.cbData];
			Marshal.Copy(plainTextBlob.pbData, plainText, 0, plainTextBlob.cbData);
			return plainText;
		}
		#endregion

		#region Init Prompt Struct
		/// <summary>
		/// Initialize the prompt struct.
		/// </summary>
		/// <param name="ps"></param>
		private void InitPromptstruct(ref CRYPTPROTECT_PROMPTSTRUCT ps) 
		{
			ps.cbSize = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(CRYPTPROTECT_PROMPTSTRUCT));
			ps.dwPromptFlags = 0;
			ps.hwndApp = NullPtr;
			ps.szPrompt = null;
		}
		#endregion

		#region Get Error Message
		/// <summary>
		/// Get the error message.
		/// </summary>
		/// <param name="errorCode"></param>
		/// <returns></returns>
		private unsafe static String GetErrorMessage(int errorCode)
		{
			int FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER = 0x00000100;
			int FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS = 0x00000200;
			int FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM  = 0x00001000;
			int messageSize = 255;
			String lpMsgBuf = "";
			int dwFlags = FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER | FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM | 
				FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS;
			IntPtr ptrlpSource = new IntPtr();
			IntPtr prtArguments = new IntPtr();
			int retVal = FormatMessage(dwFlags, ref ptrlpSource, errorCode, 0, 
				ref lpMsgBuf, messageSize, &prtArguments);
			if(0 == retVal)
			{
				throw new Exception("Failed to format message for error code " + 
					errorCode + ". ");
			}
			return lpMsgBuf;
		}
		#endregion
	}
}

By viewing downloads associated with this article you agree to the Terms of Service and the article's licence.

If a file you wish to view isn't highlighted, and is a text file (not binary), please let us know and we'll add colourisation support for it.

License

This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

A list of licenses authors might use can be found here


Written By
Web Developer
South Africa South Africa

Comments and Discussions