XML encryption and decryption for multiple recipients with X509 certificates

Question

I have managed to encrypt and decrypt xml documents using examples on MSDN. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms229744.aspx and http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms229943.aspx

This is all done according to the W3C XML encryption standard(XML Enc).

It all works good. My problem is that one xml document is intended for 2 or 3 recipients. I want to encrypt same xml with multiple keys (X509 certificate public key) so that document could be decrypted by multiple recipients.

This is all possible according to the W3C XML encryption standard by using multiple EncryptionKey elements that contain encrypted symmetric session key.

I couldn't find any example on how to achieve this in .Net using standard cryptography classes.

This must be implemented in .NET C#.

Is there a way to do this or code example somewhere?

Answer 1

The EncryptedElement class can take as many EncryptedKeys as you want. As long as the other party can correctly identify their EncryptedKey (using the Recipient or the KeyInfoName elements), you should not have any problems:

// example xml
XmlDocument xdoc = new XmlDocument();
xdoc.PreserveWhitespace = true;
xdoc.LoadXml(@"<root><encryptme>hello world</encryptme></root>");

var elementToEncrypt = (XmlElement)xdoc.GetElementsByTagName("encryptme")[0];

// keys
// rsa keys would normally be pulled from a store
RSA rsaKey1 = new RSACryptoServiceProvider();
RSA rsaKey2 = new RSACryptoServiceProvider();
var publicKeys = new[] { rsaKey1, rsaKey2 };

string sessKeyName = "helloworldkey";
var sessKey = new RijndaelManaged() { KeySize = 256 };

// encrypt
var encXml = new EncryptedXml();
var encryptedElement = new EncryptedData()
{
    Type = EncryptedXml.XmlEncElementUrl,
    EncryptionMethod = new EncryptionMethod(EncryptedXml.XmlEncAES256Url),
    KeyInfo = new KeyInfo()
};
encryptedElement.CipherData.CipherValue = encXml.EncryptData(elementToEncrypt, sessKey, false);
encryptedElement.KeyInfo.AddClause(new KeyInfoName(sessKeyName));

// encrypt the session key and add keyinfo's
int keyID = 0;
foreach (var pk in publicKeys)
{
    var encKey = new EncryptedKey()
    {
        CipherData = new CipherData(EncryptedXml.EncryptKey(sessKey.Key, pk, false)),
        EncryptionMethod = new EncryptionMethod(EncryptedXml.XmlEncRSA15Url),
        Recipient = string.Format("recipient{0}@foobar.com", ++keyID),
        CarriedKeyName = sessKeyName,
    };
    encKey.KeyInfo.AddClause(new KeyInfoName(encKey.Recipient));
    encryptedElement.KeyInfo.AddClause(new KeyInfoEncryptedKey(encKey));
}

// update the xml
EncryptedXml.ReplaceElement(elementToEncrypt, encryptedElement, false);

// show the result
Console.Write(xdoc.InnerXml);
Console.ReadLine();
Console.WriteLine(new string('-', 80));

Produces

<root>
    <EncryptedData Type="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#Element" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#">
        <EncryptionMethod Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#aes256-cbc" />
        <KeyInfo xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#">
            <KeyName>helloworldkey</KeyName>
            <EncryptedKey Recipient="[email protected]" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#">
                <EncryptionMethod Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#rsa-1_5" />
                <KeyInfo xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#">
                    <KeyName>[email protected]</KeyName>
                </KeyInfo>
                <CipherData>
                    <CipherValue>bmVT4SuAgWto6NJoTnUhrwaQ5/bWx39WKfs8y/QEQbaEBqdvl2Wa3woQGZxfigZ2wsWZQJFW0YGMII0W6AATnsqGOOVEbdGxmnvXRISiRdhcyNHkHot0kDK987y446ws5CZQQuz8inGq/SNrhiK6RyVnBE4ykWjrJyIS5wScwqA=</CipherValue>
                </CipherData>
                <CarriedKeyName>helloworldkey</CarriedKeyName>
            </EncryptedKey>
            <EncryptedKey Recipient="[email protected]" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#">
                <EncryptionMethod Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#rsa-1_5" />
                <KeyInfo xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#">
                    <KeyName>[email protected]</KeyName>
                </KeyInfo>
                <CipherData>
                    <CipherValue>oR8NPTm1NasWeDXBjayLk+p9/5RTWOZwNJHUMTQpZB9v1Aasi75oSjGqSqN0HMTiviw6NWz8AvHB9+i08L4Hw8JRDLxZgjaKqTGu31wXmM3Vc0CoYQ15AWMZN4q4tSxDhwuT8fp9SN+WFBm+M3w3bcPoooAazzDHK3ErzfXzYiU=</CipherValue>
                </CipherData>
                <CarriedKeyName>helloworldkey</CarriedKeyName>
            </EncryptedKey>
        </KeyInfo>
        <CipherData>
            <CipherValue>ohjWIEFf2WO6v/CC+ugd7uxEKGJlxgdT9N+t3MhoTIyXHqT5VlknWs0XlAhcgajkxKFjwVO3p413eRSMTLXKCg==</CipherValue>
        </CipherData>
    </EncryptedData>
</root>

To decrypt the document, you must provide a mapping between the key name and the private key of the certificate:

// Decrypt
string myKeyName = "[email protected]";

// specify we want to use the key for recipient1
var encryptedDoc = new EncryptedXml(xdoc);
encryptedDoc.AddKeyNameMapping(myKeyName, rsaKey1);
encryptedDoc.Recipient = myKeyName;

// Decrypt the element.
encryptedDoc.DecryptDocument();

// show the result
Console.Write(xdoc.InnerXml);
Console.ReadLine();

Result:

<root><encryptme>hello world</encryptme></root>