Get certificate from running instance of Internet Explorer

[Bernd Christiansen]

Hello:

Is there a way to get the certificate of a seucre web page that is
currently being displayed by a running instance of Internet Explorer?

When displaying a secure web page, Internet explorer shows a small
yellow padlock in the bottom right corner. When hovering over the
padlock it says something like "SSL Secured (128 Bit)". When
double-clicking it, Internet Explorer opens a new window that displays
detailed information on the server's certificate (e.g., Issuer, Valid
From-To, Subject, Public Key, etc.). That's the information I'm
trying to get from a running instance from Internet Explorer!

While there are lots of postings that explain how to connect to a
running instance of Internet Explorer, I couldn't find any information
on how to get information on the certificate of the web page that is
currently being displayed.

Any ideas anybody?

Thanks you very much,

-Bernd

[Igor Tandetnik]

"Bernd Christiansen" <bernd.chr...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:310f10fd.04103...@posting.google.com

> Is there a way to get the certificate of a seucre web page that is
> currently being displayed by a running instance of Internet Explorer?
>
> When displaying a secure web page, Internet explorer shows a small
> yellow padlock in the bottom right corner. When hovering over the
> padlock it says something like "SSL Secured (128 Bit)". When
> double-clicking it, Internet Explorer opens a new window that displays
> detailed information on the server's certificate (e.g., Issuer, Valid
> From-To, Subject, Public Key, etc.). That's the information I'm
> trying to get from a running instance from Internet Explorer!

There is an undocumented function InternetGetCertByURL exported from
WinInet.dll. I don't know what parameters it takes - I'll look it up and
tell you tomorrow. Also, I strongly suspect it will only work from
inside the process that actually navigated to that URL - in your case,
IE's process.

To display that certificate dialog box, MSHTML uses another undocumented
export - InternetShowSecurityInfoByURL. See

http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=3FAAD2A0.1069%40hotmail.com

Finally, you can handle SetSecureLockIcon event to get just enough
information to display "SSL Secured (128 Bit)".
--
With best wishes,
Igor Tandetnik

"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray,
Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right
answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of
confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." -- Charles
Babbage

[Igor Tandetnik]

"Igor Tandetnik" <itand...@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:OL7E83C...@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl

> There is an undocumented function InternetGetCertByURL exported from
> WinInet.dll. I don't know what parameters it takes - I'll look it up
> and tell you tomorrow.

INTERNETAPI_(BOOL) InternetGetCertByURL(LPCWSTR lpszURL,
LPWSTR lpszCertText,
DWORD dwcbCertText);

INTERNETAPI_(BOOL) InternetGetCertByURLA(LPCSTR lpszURL,
LPSTR lpszCertText,
DWORD dwcbCertText);

Returns the certificate as a string in the same format as
InternetQueryOption(INTERNET_OPTION_SECURITY_CERTIFICATE). Not
particularly exciting - I bet you'd prefer PCERT_CONTEXT. I don't see
any way to get to this, though WinInet clearly has it somewhere inside.