[c#] C# Ignore certificate errors?

I am getting the following error during a web service request to a remote web service:

Could not establish trust relationship for the SSL/TLS secure channel. ---> System.Security.Authentication.AuthenticationException: The remote certificate is invalid according to the validation procedure.

Is there anyway to ignore this error, and continue?

It seems the remote certificate is not signed.

The site I connect to is www.czebox.cz - so feel free to visit the site, and notice even browsers throw security exceptions.

The reason it's failing is not because it isn't signed but because the root certificate isn't trusted by your client. Rather than switch off SSL validation, an alternative approach would be to add the root CA cert to the list of CAs your app trusts.

This is the root CA cert that your app currently doesn't trust:

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----

You can decode and view this certificate using

this certificate decoder or another certificate decoder

To disable ssl cert validation in client configuration.

<behaviors>
   <endpointBehaviors>
      <behavior name="DisableSSLCertificateValidation">
         <clientCredentials>
             <serviceCertificate>
                <sslCertificateAuthentication certificateValidationMode="None" />
              </serviceCertificate>
           </clientCredentials>
        </behavior>

This works for .Net Core. Call on your Soap client:

client.ClientCredentials.ServiceCertificate.SslCertificateAuthentication =
                new X509ServiceCertificateAuthentication()
                {
                    CertificateValidationMode = X509CertificateValidationMode.None,
                    RevocationMode = X509RevocationMode.NoCheck
                };  

If you are using sockets directly and are authenticating as the client, then the Service Point Manager callback method won't work. Here's what did work for me. PLEASE USE FOR TESTING PURPOSES ONLY.

var activeStream = new SslStream(networkStream, false, (a, b, c, d) => { return true; });
await activeStream.AuthenticateAsClientAsync("computer.local");

The key here, is to provide the remote certificate validation callback right in the constructor of the SSL stream.

Bypass SSL Certificate....

        HttpClientHandler clientHandler = new HttpClientHandler();
        clientHandler.ServerCertificateCustomValidationCallback = (sender, cert, chain, sslPolicyErrors) => { return true; };

        // Pass the handler to httpclient(from you are calling api)
        var client = new HttpClient(clientHandler)

To further expand on BIGNUM's post - Ideally you want a solution that will simulate the conditions you will see in production and modifying your code won't do that and could be dangerous if you forget to take the code out before you deploy it.

You will need a self-signed certificate of some sort. If you know what you're doing you can use the binary BIGNUM posted, but if not you can go hunting for the certificate. If you're using IIS Express you will have one of these already, you'll just have to find it. Open Firefox or whatever browser you like and go to your dev website. You should be able to view the certificate information from the URL bar and depending on your browser you should be able to export the certificate to a file.

Next, open MMC.exe, and add the Certificate snap-in. Import your certificate file into the Trusted Root Certificate Authorities store and that's all you should need. It's important to make sure it goes into that store and not some other store like 'Personal'. If you're unfamiliar with MMC or certificates, there are numerous websites with information how to do this.

Now, your computer as a whole will implicitly trust any certificates that it has generated itself and you won't need to add code to handle this specially. When you move to production it will continue to work provided you have a proper valid certificate installed there. Don't do this on a production server - that would be bad and it won't work for any other clients other than those on the server itself.

This code worked for me. I had to add TLS2 because that's what the URL I am interested in was using.

ServicePointManager.SecurityProtocol = SecurityProtocolType.Tls12;
ServicePointManager.ServerCertificateValidationCallback +=
    (sender, cert, chain, sslPolicyErrors) => { return true; };
using (var client = new HttpClient())
{
    client.BaseAddress = new Uri(UserDataUrl);
    client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Clear();
    client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(new
      MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/json"));
    Task<string> response = client.GetStringAsync(UserDataUrl);
    response.Wait();

    if (response.Exception != null)
    {
         return null;
    }

    return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<UserData>(response.Result);
}

Allowing all certificates is very powerful but it could also be dangerous. If you would like to only allow valid certificates plus some certain certificates it could be done like this.

.Net core:

using (var httpClientHandler = new HttpClientHandler())
{
    httpClientHandler.ServerCertificateCustomValidationCallback = (message, cert, chain, sslPolicyErrors) => {
        if (sslPolicyErrors == SslPolicyErrors.None)
        {
            return true;   //Is valid
        }

        if (cert.GetCertHashString() == "99E92D8447AEF30483B1D7527812C9B7B3A915A7")
        {
            return true;
        }
        return false;
    };
    using (var httpClient = new HttpClient(httpClientHandler))
    {
        var httpResponse = httpClient.GetAsync("https://example.com").Result;
    }
}

.Net framework:

System.Net.ServicePointManager.ServerCertificateValidationCallback += delegate (
    object sender,
    X509Certificate cert,
    X509Chain chain,
    SslPolicyErrors sslPolicyErrors)
{
    if (sslPolicyErrors == SslPolicyErrors.None)
    {
        return true;   //Is valid
    }

    if (cert.GetCertHashString() == "99E92D8447AEF30483B1D7527812C9B7B3A915A7")
    {
        return true;
    }

    return false;
};

Update:

How to get cert.GetCertHashString() value in Chrome:

Click on Secure or Not Secure in the address bar.

Then click on Certificate -> Details -> Thumbprint and copy the value. Remember to do cert.GetCertHashString().ToLower().

Old, but still helps...

Another great way of achieving the same behavior is through configuration file (web.config)

 <system.net>
    <settings>
      <servicePointManager checkCertificateName="false" checkCertificateRevocationList="false" />
    </settings>
  </system.net>

NOTE: tested on .net full.

IgnoreBadCertificates Method:

//I use a method to ignore bad certs caused by misc errors
IgnoreBadCertificates();

// after the Ignore call i can do what ever i want...
HttpWebRequest request_data = System.Net.WebRequest.Create(urlquerystring) as HttpWebRequest;

/*
and below the Methods we are using...
*/

/// <summary>
/// Together with the AcceptAllCertifications method right
/// below this causes to bypass errors caused by SLL-Errors.
/// </summary>
public static void IgnoreBadCertificates()
{
    System.Net.ServicePointManager.ServerCertificateValidationCallback = new System.Net.Security.RemoteCertificateValidationCallback(AcceptAllCertifications);
}  

/// <summary>
/// In Short: the Method solves the Problem of broken Certificates.
/// Sometime when requesting Data and the sending Webserverconnection
/// is based on a SSL Connection, an Error is caused by Servers whoes
/// Certificate(s) have Errors. Like when the Cert is out of date
/// and much more... So at this point when calling the method,
/// this behaviour is prevented
/// </summary>
/// <param name="sender"></param>
/// <param name="certification"></param>
/// <param name="chain"></param>
/// <param name="sslPolicyErrors"></param>
/// <returns>true</returns>
private static bool AcceptAllCertifications(object sender, System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate certification, System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Chain chain, System.Net.Security.SslPolicyErrors sslPolicyErrors)
{
    return true;
}