Set the SecurityProtocol (Ssl3 or TLS) on the .net HttpWebRequest per request

Question

My application (.net 3.5 sp1) uses the HttpWebRequest to communicate with different endpoints, sometimes its over HTTPS where each hosting server may have a different securi

Answer 1

I had the same issue and wrote proxy class, which opens port on localhost and forwards all traffic to specified host:port.

so the connection goes like this

[your code] --- HTTP ---> [proxy on localhost:port] --- HTTPS ---> [web site]

in fact it can be used to wrap any protocol into SSL/TLS not just HTTP

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Security;
using System.Net.Sockets;
using System.Security.Authentication;
using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;

namespace System
{
    class sslProxy : IDisposable
    {
        readonly string host;
        readonly int port;
        readonly TcpListener listener;
        readonly SslProtocols sslProtocols;
        bool disposed;
        static readonly X509CertificateCollection sertCol = new X509CertificateCollection();
        public sslProxy(string url, SslProtocols protocols)
        {
            var uri = new Uri(url);
            host = uri.Host;
            port = uri.Port;
            sslProtocols = protocols;
            listener = new TcpListener(IPAddress.Loopback, 0);
            listener.Start();
            listener.BeginAcceptTcpClient(onAcceptTcpClient, null);
            Proxy = new WebProxy("localhost", (listener.LocalEndpoint as IPEndPoint).Port);
        }
        public WebProxy Proxy
        {
            get;
            private set;
        }
        class stBuf
        {
            public TcpClient tcs;
            public TcpClient tcd;
            public Stream sts;
            public Stream std;
            public byte[] buf;
            public stBuf dup;
        }
        void onAcceptTcpClient(IAsyncResult ar)
        {
            if (disposed) return;
            var tcl = listener.EndAcceptTcpClient(ar);
            TcpClient tcr = null;
            try
            {
                listener.BeginAcceptTcpClient(onAcceptTcpClient, null);
                var nsl = tcl.GetStream();

                tcr = new TcpClient(host, port);
                Stream nsr = tcr.GetStream();
                if (sslProtocols != SslProtocols.None)
                {
                    var sss = new SslStream(nsr, true);
                    sss.AuthenticateAsClient(host, sertCol, sslProtocols, false);
                    nsr = sss;
                } // if

                var sts = new stBuf() { tcs = tcl, sts = nsl, tcd = tcr, std = nsr, buf = new byte[tcl.ReceiveBufferSize] };
                var std = new stBuf() { tcs = tcr, sts = nsr, tcd = tcl, std = nsl, buf = new byte[tcr.ReceiveBufferSize] };
                sts.dup = std;
                std.dup = sts;

                nsl.BeginRead(sts.buf, 0, sts.buf.Length, onReceive, sts);
                nsr.BeginRead(std.buf, 0, std.buf.Length, onReceive, std);
            } // try
            catch
            {
                tcl.Close();
                if (tcr != null) tcr.Close();
            } // catch
        }
        void close(stBuf st)
        {
            var dup = st.dup;
            if (dup != null)
            {
                dup.dup = st.dup = null;
                st.sts.Dispose();
                st.std.Dispose();
            } // if
        }
        void onReceive(IAsyncResult ar)
        {
            var st = ar.AsyncState as stBuf;
            try
            {
                if (!(st.dup != null && st.tcs.Connected && st.sts.CanRead && !disposed)) { close(st); return; };
                var n = st.sts.EndRead(ar);
                if (!(n > 0 && st.tcd.Connected && st.std.CanWrite)) { close(st); return; };
                st.std.Write(st.buf, 0, n);
                if (!(st.tcs.Connected && st.tcd.Connected && st.sts.CanRead && st.std.CanWrite)) { close(st); return; };
                st.sts.BeginRead(st.buf, 0, st.buf.Length, onReceive, st);
            } // try
            catch
            {
                close(st);
            } // catch
        }
        public void Dispose()
        {
            if (!disposed)
            {
                disposed = true;
                listener.Stop();
            } // if
        }
    }
}

usage example

// create proxy once and keep it
// note you have to mention :443 port (https default)
// ssl protocols to use (enum can use | or + to have many)
var p = new sslProxy("http://www.google.com:443", SslProtocols.Tls);
// using our connections
for (int i=0; i<5; i++)
{
    // url here goes without https just http
    var rq = HttpWebRequest.CreateHttp("http://www.google.com/") as HttpWebRequest;
    // specify that we are connecting via proxy
    rq.Proxy = p.Proxy;
    var rs = rq.GetResponse() as HttpWebResponse;
    var r = new StreamReader(rs.GetResponseStream()).ReadToEnd();
    rs.Dispose();
} // for
// just dispose proxy once done
p.Dispose();