Switch WSUS to https

The following was presented at Black Hat 2015 USA during the summer.

The whitepaper is available at http://ctx.is/WSUSpect
The slides are available at http://www.contextis.com/documents/162/WSUSpect_Presentation.pdf
The code is available at https://github.com/ctxis/wsuspect-proxy

The only mitigation identified was an HTTPS-enabled WSUS. In this post, I’d like to show how to switch your HTTP based WSUS to HTTPS.

I’ll assume that:

• your server is running Windows 2012 R2, has already an http based WSUS
• your server may not be connected directly to the Internet
• you don’t want to buy a certificate from a public certiticate authority
• you don’t have PKI in your infrastructure

This official documentation is available on Technet on this page

But let’s do this with PowerShell 🙂

# 1. Create a self-signed certificate
$SelfSignedHT = @{
 DnsName = "$($env:COMPUTERNAME).$($env:USERDNSDOMAIN)".ToLower()
 CertStoreLocation = "Cert:\LocalMachine\My"
}
New-SelfSignedCertificate @SelfSignedHT
$cert = Get-ChildItem -Path Cert:\LocalMachine\My -SSLServerAuthentication

# 2. Export its public key
Export-Certificate -Cert $cert -Type CERT -FilePath ~/documents/cert.cer

# 3. Import the public key in the Trusted Root Certificate Authorities store
Import-Certificate -FilePath ~/documents/cert.cer -CertStoreLocation Cert:\LocalMachine\Root

# 4. Select this certificate in the SSL bindings
$cert | New-Item IIS:\SslBindings\0.0.0.0!8531

# 5. Require SSL for the following virtual roots only:
'SimpleAuthWebService','DSSAuthWebService',
'ServerSyncWebService','APIRemoting30',
'ClientWebService' | ForEach-Object {
 Set-WebConfigurationProperty -Filter 'system.webserver/security/access' -Location "WSUS Administration/$($_)" -Name sslFlags -Value 8
}

# 6. Switch WSUS to SSL
& 'C:\Program Files\Update Services\Tools\WsusUtil.exe' configuressl $("$($env:COMPUTERNAME).$($env:USERDNSDOMAIN)".ToLower())

# 7. Change your GPO to point to the new URL
$key = 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate'
$uri = 'https://{0}:8531' -f $("$($env:COMPUTERNAME).$($env:USERDNSDOMAIN)".ToLower())
Get-GPO -All | Foreach-Object { 
 if ($_ | Get-GPRegistryValue -Key $key -ValueName WUServer -EA 0) {
  $_ | Set-GPRegistryValue -Key $key -ValueName WUServer       -Value $uri -Type String
  $_ | Set-GPRegistryValue -Key $key -ValueName WUStatusServer -Value $uri -Type String
 }
}

You’re almost done.
The last step consists in distributing the public key of your self-signed certificate to your clients so that they trust your self-signed certificate.
To achieve this, you’ll need to edit your GPO that targets clients and import your ~/documents/cert.cer file into ‘Computer Configuration / Policies / Windows Settings / Security Settings / Public Key Policies / Trusted Root Certificate Authrorities

You’ve successfully mitigated the threat reported at BH2015 😎
Note that the certificate is valid for 1 year.