Protecting credentials used for automation :: Support Forum

BR365
Joined:: 2020-06-05
Posts:: 1

Protecting credentials used for automation

2020-06-05 08:21

Hello,
I've already read the information about the Protecting of credentials. But I still don't know exactly how to put all this together.

At the moment, I have a batch file and a config file. The Batch is defining some standard path informations and the config file manages the SFTP transfer.

I also understand how to encrypt the password and created an XML file as shown in the example with the encrypted password.

But how can I now use this part:

# Read XML configuration file
[xml]$config = Get-Content ".\config.xml"
 
# Use read credentials
$sessionOptions = New-Object WinSCP.SessionOptions -Property @{
    Protocol = [WinSCP.Protocol]::Sftp
    HostName = "example.com"
    UserName = $config.Configuration.UserName
    Password = $config.Configuration.Password
}

and

Read-Host -AsSecureString | ConvertFrom-SecureString

and

$sessionOptions.SecurePassword = ConvertTo-SecureString $config.Configuration.Password

Can someone provide me a complete example, not only these fragments?

Thanks,
Moritz

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martin◆ Site Admin
Joined:: 2002-12-10
Posts:: 41,378
Location:: Prague, Czechia

Re: Protecting credentials used for automation

2020-06-05

I have updated the article for more clarity.

For a more specific example of use of the Read-Host ..., see also the C# section of the article.

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asad
Joined:: 2023-11-06
Posts:: 1
Location:: uk

martin

2023-11-06 17:29

@martin Are you sure this works because I get the error below:

Exception calling "Open" with "1" argument(s): "SessionOptions.Password is set, but SessionOptions.UserName is not."
At C:\Temp\KKremoteConfig.ps1:17 char:1
+ $session.Open($sessionOptions)
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ArgumentException

Also, is it possible to encrypt the hostname and SSH fingerprint?

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martin◆ Site Admin

Re: martin

2023-11-09

@asad: What "this"? If you need our help, we need more information than just an error message.

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Guest

2023-11-09 12:57

Hi Martin,
Apologies, I’m following this article:
Protecting credentials used for automation
I’m using PowerShell and the ConvertFrom-SecureString method to encrypt the password in the XML file.
Here’s the contents of my configuration file:

<Configuration>
<UserName>myuser</UserName>
<Password>encrypted-password</Password>
</Configuration>

Here are the contents of my PowerShell script:

# Import the WinSCP assembly
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files (x86)\WinSCP\WinSCPnet.dll" # Modify the path as per your WinSCP installation location
 
$config = Get-Content "C:\Temp\config.xml"
 
# Configure WinSCP session options
$sessionOptions = New-Object WinSCP.SessionOptions -Property @{
   Protocol = [WinSCP.Protocol]::Sftp
   HostName = "sftp.myserver.com"
   UserName = $config.Configuration.UserName
   SecurePassword = ConvertTo-SecureString $config.Configuration.Password
   SshHostKeyFingerprint = "MySSHHostKeyFingerprint"
}
 
# Initialize a WinSCP session
$session = New-Object WinSCP.Session
 
# Open the WinSCP session with the specified session options
$session.Open($sessionOptions)

When running this I get the following output:

ConvertTo-SecureString : Cannot bind argument to parameter 'String' because it is null.
At C:\sftp.ps1:12 char:45
+ ... ecurePassword = ConvertTo-SecureString $config.Configuration.Password
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidData: (:) [ConvertTo-SecureString], ParameterBindingValidationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentValidationErrorNullNotAllowed,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.ConvertToSecureStringCommand

Exception calling "Open" with "1" argument(s): "SessionOptions.Password is set, but SessionOptions.UserName is not."
At C:\sftp.ps1:21 char:1
+ $session.Open($sessionOptions)
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ArgumentException

The password isn’t being picked up from the config.xml file
The UserName isn’t being picked up from the config.xml file

When I use the plain text password method I get the following:

Exception calling "Open" with "1" argument(s): "SessionOptions.Password is set, but SessionOptions.UserName is not."
At C:\sftp.ps1:21 char:1
+ $session.Open($sessionOptions)
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ArgumentException

In this instance just the following issue:
The UserName isn’t being picked up from the config.xml file

So to sumarise, I require some assistance to understand why:
The UserName isn’t being set
The SecurePassword method isn’t working.
Additionally, just a minor query, is it possible to store other parameters such as HostName and SshHostkeyFingerprint in the config.xml file?

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martin◆ Site Admin
Joined:: 2002-12-10
Posts:: 41,378
Location:: Prague, Czechia

2023-11-13

You have removed the [xml] declaration from this line:

[xml]$config = Get-Content ".\config.xml"

That's what breaks the script.

And yes, you can of course set any property using this method. Those are just plain string values, there's no magic.

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Protecting credentials used for automation