Authenticating an ADAM user against ADAM from C# - cannot bind - c#

I have set up an ADAM instance and added some test users. From c# I can bind to ADAM using a windows account but I cannot bind using one of the ADAM users. (I can successfully bind the adam users in ldp) & I have made sure the users are enabled by setting msDS-UserAccountDisabled attribute to false.
When I bind with my windows account I can successfully search & bring back properties for ADAM users but I am still struggling to authenticate them, when I try and bind with an ADAM user account I get the error :
Error: System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x8007052E): Logon failure: unknown user name or bad password. at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.Bind(Boolean throwIfFail)
Here is the code I am using:
string userName = txtUserName.Text;
string password = txtPassword.Text;
string ADConnectionString = "LDAP://localhost:389/CN=sandbox,DC=ITOrg";
DirectoryEntry entry = new DirectoryEntry(ADConnectionString);
entry.Username = "myComputer\\Administrator";
entry.Password = "myPassword";
try
{
DirectorySearcher searcher = new DirectorySearcher(entry);
searcher.Filter = "(&(objectClass=user)(CN=" + userName + "))";
SearchResultCollection result = searcher.FindAll();
if (result.Count > 0)
{
//bind with simple bind
using (DirectoryEntry de = new DirectoryEntry(result[0].Path, userName, password,AuthenticationTypes.None))
{
if (de.Guid != null) // this is the line where it dies
{
Label1.Text = "Successfully authenticated";
Label2.Text = result[0].Properties["displayName"][0].ToString();
Label3.Text = result[0].Properties["telephoneNumber"][0].ToString();
} else
{
Lable1.Text = "Unable to Authenticate";
}
}
}
else
{
Lable1.Text = "UserName :" + userName + " not found";
}
} catch(Exception ex)
{
Label1.Text = "Error searching: " + ex.ToString();
}
Thanks in advance for any help, much appreciated!

It is probably a username format problem. When authenticating an ADAM user in SDS, you must use LDAP simple bind and use a name format supported by ADAM. ADAM technically allows you to use Digest auth as well, but that is not available in SDS (only SDS.Protocols), so that doesn't apply to your code approach.
You ARE using simple bind because you have AuthenticationTypes.None set so that part is ok. The part that is likely wrong then is the username format.
ADAM accepts the user's full DN, their displayName (if set and unique) and/or the userPrincipalName (if set and unique) as a "bindable" username, so start with the full DN of the user and seee if that works. If so, you can try the other user name values as well. Note that you can put whatever you want for displayName or userPrincipalName in ADAM. There is no validation. Just make sure the values are unique.
If you really want to do some type of bind authentication thing against ADAM, you'll get better perf and scale by using the ValidateCredentials method of PrincipalContext in .NET 3.5.
This kind of stuff is documented and discussed in the forums over at http://www.directoryprogramming.net all the time and is a place I frequent much more often since it is my site. :) A friend tipped me off to this post or I would have never seen it.

Related

Cannot get LDAP connection working - always "Unknown error"

I'm researching what I need to build an Active Directory search tool which ultimately will be used in a C# ASP.NET web app.
I know very little about AD (and don't particularly want to know any more than necessary) so I've asked our tech ops to set up a dummy instance on a server. This they've done giving it the domain dummy.local
I now need to work out my LDAP connection string. Here I'm completely stuck. I'm using a user account which is a member of Domain Admins. After loads of hunting round the web I've tried all sorts of things to work out the various components of the LDAP connection string. For example, if I run the following in cmd.exe for that domain admin user on the server...
dsquery user -samid "username" | dsget user -memberof -expand
...this gives me the following information:
"CN=Domain Admins,CN=Users,DC=dummy,DC=local"
"CN=Remote Desktop Users,CN=Builtin,DC=dummy,DC=local"
"CN=Users,CN=Builtin,DC=dummy,DC=local"
"CN=Administrators,CN=Builtin,DC=dummy,DC=local"
"CN=Domain Users,CN=Users,DC=dummy,DC=local"
"CN=Denied RODC Password Replication Group,CN=Users,DC=dummy,DC=local"
I've also run the following in a C# console app...
using (var context = new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain))
using (var comp = ComputerPrincipal.FindByIdentity(context, Environment.MachineName))
{
Console.WriteLine(String.Join(",", comp.DistinguishedName.Split(',').SkipWhile(s => !s.StartsWith("OU=")).ToArray()));
}
...and this gives me the following:
OU=Domain Controllers,DC=dummy,DC=local
I thought I therefore had all the properties I needed to build my LDAP connection string. I ended up with this:
LDAP://COMSECWEBDEV.dummy.local/ou=Domain Controllers,/cn=Domain Admins,/cn=Users,/dc=dummy,/dc=local
I've tried using this connection string, with the username and password of the domain admin which I know is correct, but everything I try always gives me the same error:
System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80005000): Unknown error (0x80005000)
at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.Bind(Boolean throwIfFail)
at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.Bind()
at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.get_AdsObject()
at System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher.FindAll(Boolean findMoreThanOne)
at System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher.FindOne()
Since this error gives me no detail I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. I'm sure I'm just not getting the connection string right, but I've no idea how to work out the correct string.
For completeness, here is the console code which I'm testing with:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var connString = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["lc"];
var username = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["lu"];
var password = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["lpw"];
using (DirectoryEntry de = new DirectoryEntry(connString, username, password))
{
DirectorySearcher search = new DirectorySearcher(de);
search.PageSize = 1001;// To Pull up more than 100 records.
DirectorySearcher directorySearcher = new DirectorySearcher(de);
directorySearcher.Filter = string.Format("(&(objectClass=user)(objectCategory=user) (sAMAccountName={0}))", username);
directorySearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("msRTCSIP-PrimaryUserAddress");
try
{
var result = directorySearcher.FindOne();
var found = false;
if (result != null)
{
if (result.Properties["msRTCSIP-PrimaryUserAddress"] != null)
{
found = true;
Console.WriteLine("Found: " + result.Properties["msRTCSIP-PrimaryUserAddress"][0]);
}
}
if (!found)
{
Console.WriteLine("Sad face");
}
}
catch (Exception x)
{
Console.WriteLine(x.Message);
}
Console.WriteLine("------------");
}
}
I was trying to figure out how to properly format a LDAP connection string last week, and found this entry over on serverfault:
How can I figure out my LDAP connection string?
I noticed you had a "/" between each OU or DC entry - I didn't include those in mine, and I don't see them included in the above example either.
I'm far from an expert (obviously) but just figured I would throw it out there.

Check Password Reset on Active Directory Server

I need to reset windows password of any user through my .Net application. I am using the user's username to get its Directory Entry from AD server. I got these two different methods for changing password :
entry.Invoke("ChangePassword", oldPass, newPass);
&
entry.Invoke("SetPassword", "pass#123");
But I am getting the following error when am trying these methods on live AD server :
Access is denied. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED))
I have 2 AD servers. One of them is live and another is for testing purpose. I just want to check if my code is working or not. Since, access is denied on live server I can not change and check later my own password through code.
And if I am using the test AD server to change password, I don't know how to check whether the pasword is changed or not.
Kindly give any suggestions to check if my code is working properly or not.
Thanks in advance.
I think you're not getting a proper context setup before you call the invoke. Here's what I use for something similar. You'll need to set your own variables:
I'm using System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement to get the functions.
//Domain related info
string _DCToUse = "myserver.domain.local";
string _ADConDomain = "DC=domain,DC=local";
string _AdDomain = "domain";
string _ADAdminUser = "administrator";
string _ADAdminPass = "password";
//User specific
string _UserName = "jsmith";
string _CurrentPass = "oldPass";
string _NewPass = "newPass";
PrincipalContext principalContext =
new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain, _DCToUse,
_ADConDomain, _ADDomain+#"\"+_ADAdminUser, _ADAdminPass);
UserPrincipal user = UserPrincipal.FindByIdentity(principalContext, _UserName);
if (user == null)
{
string ADErrorMsg = "Couldn't find user, check your spelling.";
return Changed;
}
user.ChangePassword(oldPass, newPass);
user.Save();

to retrieve windows login-password via asp.net

public Object IsAuthenticated()
{
String domainAndUsername = strDomain + "\\" + strUser;
***DirectoryEntry entry = new DirectoryEntry(_path, domainAndUsername, strPass);***
SearchResult result;
try
{
//Bind to the native AdsObject to force authentication.
DirectorySearcher search = new DirectorySearcher(entry) { Filter = ("(SAMAccountName=" + strUser + ")") };
search.PropertiesToLoad.Add("givenName"); // First Name
search.PropertiesToLoad.Add("sn"); // Last Name
search.PropertiesToLoad.Add("cn"); // Last Name
result = search.FindOne();
if (null == result)
{
return null;
}
//Update the new path to the user in the directory.
_path = result.Path;
_filterAttribute = (String)result.Properties["cn"][0];
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
return new Exception("Error authenticating user. " + ex.Message);
}
return user;
}
In the above code segment, is there a way to retrieve the user's Windows login password so that the LDAP authentication works without asking the user his password another time?
Can the value for "strPass",that is being passed when DirectoryEntry object is being created, be retrieved by any way?
The password does not exist anywhere. It would be a big security hole if it did.
Also, BTW, get rid of the try/catch block. It's doing nothing but hiding the reason for the exception.
Use the ActiveDirectoryMemebershipProvider - You can authenticate without writing code, thus eliminating the login scenario you currently have.
You could set up Windows Authentication in your ASP.NET app.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff647405.aspx
Once you set this up, only authenticated users have access to the protected parts of your site.
This gives you access some key bits of information.
For example:
System.Web.HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.Name - gives the name (domain\username) of an authenticated user.
System.Web.HttpContext.Current.User.IsInRole("role_name_here") - will tell you if the authenticated user is in a given role.
Authentication can be tricky to do for the first time - please do not ask a user for their windows password - this is a security risk - allow IIS and the .NET framework take care of this for you. The article above may be a bit long and seem a bit complicated but it has a lot of good information in it.

Creating Active Directory user with password in C#

I'm looking for a way to create Active Directory users and set their password, preferably without giving my application/service Domain Admin privileges.
I've tried the following:
DirectoryEntry newUser = _directoryEntry.Children.Add("CN=" + fullname, USER);
newUser.Properties["samAccountName"].Value = username;
newUser.Properties["userPassword"].Value = password;
newUser.Properties["mail"].Value = email;
newUser.CommitChanges();
The user is created, but it seems the password is never set on the user.
Does anyone have an idea on how to set the user's password initially when creating the user? I know about
.Invoke("SetPassword", new object[] { password })
But that requires my code to be run with Domain Admin privileges. As I don't really see the point to grant my code Domain Admin privileges, just to set the initial password (I also allow user password resets, but those run in the context of that particular user), I am hoping someone has a clever solution that doesn't require me to do so.
Thanks in advance!
You can do this whole process much easier now with System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement (long as you're on .Net 3.5):
See here for a full rundown
Here's a quick example of your specific case:
using(var pc = new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain))
{
using(var up = new UserPrincipal(pc))
{
up.SamAccountName = username;
up.EmailAddress = email;
up.SetPassword(password);
up.Enabled = true;
up.ExpirePasswordNow();
up.Save();
}
}
I'd use #Nick's code (wrapped in using statements so the context and principal are disposed properly). As for privileges, you'll need to at least have enough privileges on the OU where you are creating the user to create and manage objects. I'd create a specific user under which your program will run and give it just enough privileges to do the tasks that it needs in that specific OU and no more.
Yes can also use below code to create bulk of users
DirectoryEntry ouEntry = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://OU=TestOU,DC=TestDomain,DC=local");
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
try
{
DirectoryEntry childEntry = ouEntry.Children.Add("CN=TestUser" + i, "user");
childEntry.CommitChanges();
ouEntry.CommitChanges();
childEntry.Invoke("SetPassword", new object[] { "password" });
childEntry.CommitChanges();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
}
}
The actual attribute for the password is unicodePwd, which requires a specific format that is described in the documentation. But this is how you can do it:
newUser.Properties["unicodePwd"].Value = Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes("\"NewPassword\"");
Doing it this way, you can create the user with a password in one step.

Generic Authentication Call to Active Directory in C#

I would like to have a clean C# class that authenticates from Active Directory.
It should be pretty simple, it just has to ask for credentials and check if it matches what AD is expecting.
I am responsible for a number of C# applications, and I would like all of them to use the same class.
Could someone please provide a clean code sample of such a class? It should have good error handling, be well commented, and specifically ask for credentials rather than try to read if a user is already logged in to AD for another application. (This is a security requirement because some applications are used in areas with shared computers: People with multiple roles and different permission levels may use the same computer and forget to log out between sessions)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316748
public bool IsAuthenticated(String domain, String username, String pwd)
{
String domainAndUsername = domain + "\\" + username;
DirectoryEntry entry = new DirectoryEntry(_path, domainAndUsername, pwd);
try
{ //Bind to the native AdsObject to force authentication.
Object obj = entry.NativeObject;
DirectorySearcher search = new DirectorySearcher(entry);
search.Filter = "(SAMAccountName=" + username + ")";
search.PropertiesToLoad.Add("cn");
SearchResult result = search.FindOne();
if(null == result)
{
return false;
}
//Update the new path to the user in the directory.
_path = result.Path;
_filterAttribute = (String)result.Properties["cn"][0];
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw new Exception("Error authenticating user. " + ex.Message);
}
return true;
}
Admittedly I have no experience programming against AD, but the link below seems it might address your problem.
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/system/everythingInAD.aspx#35
There's some reason you can't use Windows integrated authentication, and not bother users with entering their names and passwords? That's simultaneously the most usable and secure solution when possible.

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