Question regarding Deprecation of Software Publisher Certificates?

Hello everyone,

As you all know, Microsoft is going to soon end the support for root certificates that have kernel mode signing capabilities in 2-3 months :

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/install/deprecation-of-software-publisher-certificates-and-commercial-release-certificates

But i found another article that seems to suggest that some CAs will continue to work, some up to 2025 :

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/install/cross-certificates-for-kernel-mode-code-signing

To add to the confusion, companies like DigiCert are still selling code signing EV and non EV certificates that based on their claim, will work for up to 3 years, even tho Microsoft says they will no longer support it in 2 months? https://www.digicert.com/order/order-1.php

Can someone clarify this? Basically if i want to purchase a code signing EV or non EV certificate right now for signing kernel drivers that works for at least 1 year or more, without going through Microsoft Hardware Dev Center program, what are my options right now? will all of them stop working in 2-3 months or…?

It’s all such a mystery; And MSFT has – once again – managed to make a complete and total mess of things due to lack of clear, concise, and technically accurate communications to the 3rd party driver developer community.

It’s so frustrating. I’ve been working on this, with some time spent on it every week, since OCTOBER.

OK, OK, OK… I’ll calm down.

As you’ve noted, I see that some cross-certs have been issued that (as you noted) don’t expire until 2025. That’s super interesting, and it’ll be interesting to know whether the EV Certs that (for example) Entrust issues today are issued by the “Entrust Root Certification Authority – G2” (with a 2025 expiring cross-cert). Here at OSR we, coincidentally, JUST got a new EV Cert from Entrust… I’ll check to see what the specific CA is, and if the new cross-cert works on down-level machines. After all, there’s a separate issue as to whether the “new” Trust Root CA gets updated in the Trust Root Cert Store on Win7 the down-level machines.

companies like DigiCert are still selling code signing EV and non EV certificates that based on their claim, will work for up to 3 years

I think it’s important not to confuse the cert “working” (that is, you can use it to sign your code, and you can use it for Dashboard submissions) with the cert having an available cross-certificate that allows cross-signed drivers to load on down-level versions of the OS. The EV Cert we got from Entrust two weeks ago indeed “works”… we can sign with it.

And, of course, cross-signing does not “work” on any flavor of Windows 10, regardless of the cross-cert.

I’m confused too. I’ll send some email to my friends in Redmond today, and see if I can gain some clarity. No promises that I’ll get a coherent response… so don’t hold your breath.

Peter

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And, of course, cross-signing does not “work” on any flavor of Windows 10, regardless of the cross-cert.

It does if you turn off “secure boot” in the BIOS. At least, I don’t THINK they’re removed that.

It does if you turn off “secure boot” in the BIOS

I heard (in context of “defenestration process” discussion,of course) that this part may be “rather problematic” on some machines…

Anton Bassov

>

And, of course, cross-signing does not “work” on any flavor of Windows 10,
regardless of the cross-cert.

Wait, what??
It does not work NOW?
EV cert, SHA2?

@“Peter_Viscarola_(OSR)” said:
It’s all such a mystery; And MSFT has – once again – managed to make a complete and total mess of things due to lack of clear, concise, and technically accurate communications to the 3rd party driver developer community.

It’s so frustrating. I’ve been working on this, with some time spent on it every week, since OCTOBER.

OK, OK, OK… I’ll calm down.

As you’ve noted, I see that some cross-certs have been issued that (as you noted) don’t expire until 2025. That’s super interesting, and it’ll be interesting to know whether the EV Certs that (for example) Entrust issues today are issued by the “Entrust Root Certification Authority – G2” (with a 2025 expiring cross-cert). Here at OSR we, coincidentally, JUST got a new EV Cert from Entrust… I’ll check to see what the specific CA is, and if the new cross-cert works on down-level machines. After all, there’s a separate issue as to whether the “new” Trust Root CA gets updated in the Trust Root Cert Store on Win7 the down-level machines.

Glad to know I’m not the only one confused by all this mess that Microsoft has caused… please do update us about that Entrust EV Cert.

I think it’s important not to confuse the cert “working” (that is, you can use it to sign your code, and you can use it for Dashboard submissions) with the cert having an available cross-certificate that allows cross-signed drivers to load on down-level versions of the OS. The EV Cert we got from Entrust two weeks ago indeed “works”… we can sign with it.

But based on digicert’s website, it seems like the 3 year EV cert that they are offering will work on any version of windows for 3 years, isn’t it?

And, of course, cross-signing does not “work” on any flavor of Windows 10, regardless of the cross-cert.

Are you talking about the fact that EV cert is required for drivers to get loaded in windows 10 computers that have secure boot on, or …?

I’m confused too. I’ll send some email to my friends in Redmond today, and see if I can gain some clarity. No promises that I’ll get a coherent response… so don’t hold your breath.

Thank you Peter, please do update us.

it seems like the 3 year EV cert that they are offering will work on any version of windows for 3 years

I think you might be missing the point that the definition of “work” might not be what you think it is?

“Work” means you can sign executables, thereby unambiguously attesting to their authenticity and origin, for anybody who cares to check.

“Work” does NOT necessarily mean that you can use the cert to cross-sign drivers and make them load on any given operating system.

Peter

It does not work NOW?

Cross-signing hasn’t “worked” on Windows 10 since sometime in 2016.

Now… having SAID that, there are (a ridiculously large number of) unique cases. If the system was updated, if the system has Secure Boot enabled, if the driver isn’t PnP or installed with an INF.

In general: Cross-signing is only “supposed” to work on pre-Win 10 versions of the OS. In Win10, you need to attestation sign.

Peter

Heck, no, I can confirm crosssigned drivers still work on Win10 2004 and
Server 2019. We use .inf files to install most of them.
As long as the client cert is a SHA2 EV cert, and has the corresponding
cross and root certs.
I can tell you uf a DigiCert cert us such, but not others. DG has EV string
in their corresponding root and cross certs’ names.

The only thing I never tested myself is Secure Boot.

Cross-signing hasn’t “worked” on Windows 10 since sometime in 2016.

The only thing I never tested myself is Secure Boot.

That’s the key. Turn on “secure boot” and it all falls apart.

@“Peter_Viscarola_(OSR)” said:

It does not work NOW?

Cross-signing hasn’t “worked” on Windows 10 since sometime in 2016.

Now… having SAID that, there are (a ridiculously large number of) unique cases. If the system was updated, if the system has Secure Boot enabled, if the driver isn’t PnP or installed with an INF.

In general: Cross-signing is only “supposed” to work on pre-Win 10 versions of the OS. In Win10, you need to attestation sign.

Peter

So what is our best option right now for purchasing an EV certificate for signing our drivers such that they successfully load in all versions of windows (regardless of secure boot), without going through Microsoft Hardware Dev Center program? We actually contacted Digicert, and they said “You can still purchase a code signing certificate with Digicert but you can no longer order certificates with Kernal-mode driver signing capabilities”…

@Richard_M said:
So what is our best option right now for purchasing an EV certificate for signing our drivers such that they successfully load in all versions of windows (regardless of secure boot), without going through Microsoft Hardware Dev Center program? We actually contacted Digicert, and they said “You can still purchase a code signing certificate with Digicert but you can no longer order certificates with Kernal-mode driver signing capabilities”…

Right now the best choice seems to be getting a certificate from a CA, that has cross-certificate expiration date beyond Apr 2021. Entrust is the most looked at, since their life term is the longest (Jul 2025). However, I’m not sure if anybody confirmed yet, that they indeed provide a certificate able to sign the drivers with that cross-certificate…

But if you aim for “all versions of windows (regardless of secure boot)”, then you already have no choice, but to use Microsoft’s services. Because Windows 10/2016 with Secure Boot enabled require the drivers to be at least Attestation signed by Microsoft, and do not accept drivers signed by anybody else (bar a few special situations), not even with an EV certificate. The EV in this case is required for signing the package that you’re sending to Microsoft, but not the drivers themselves, and cross-certificate is not needed for it.

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@Richard_M Get any EV Cert. Sign up for a Microsoft Dashboard account. Sign your driver using Attestation Signing for Win 10. No tests to pass. Problem solved for Win 10, at least,

But, as I said before, Cross Signing will not reliably work on Win10. Hasn’t worked for years.

In terms of Cross Signing for down-level OS versions, that’s what we’ve all been talking about here. We here at OSR are working on getting answers (as described above), and also trying to get the community some reasonable alternatives.

Peter

Thank you everyone for giving me help on this,

One other question : i just checked the expiration dates for some CAs in some of my signed files, and their expiration date do not correspond to what MSDN says… for example digicerts root CA in my signed files will expire after 2030! but Microsoft says it will expire in 2-3 months… how does that work? isn’t the expiration date part of the embedded signature in the driver file? how are they going to change this?

@Richard_M said:
Thank you everyone for giving me help on this,

One other question : i just checked the expiration dates for some CAs in some of my signed files, and their expiration date do not correspond to what MSDN says… for example digicerts root CA in my signed files will expire after 2030! but Microsoft says it will expire in 2-3 months… how does that work? isn’t the expiration date part of the embedded signature in the driver file? how are they going to change this?

CAs are not expiring yet. It’s the cross-certificates that are in the center of attention. The ones that you specify with /ac when signing with signtool. You can check their expiration dates, using the “signtool verify /kp /v” command, under the “Cross Certificate Chain” title.

I am seeking clarification about the question and answer at this link: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/install/deprecation-of-software-publisher-certificates-and-commercial-release-certificates#will-i-be-able-to-continue-using-my-ev-certificate-for-signing-submissions-to-hardware-dev-center

Will I be able to continue using my EV certificate for signing submissions to Hardware Dev Center?
Yes, EV certificates will continue to work until they expire. If you sign a kernel-mode driver with an EV certificate after the expiration of the cross-certificate that issued that EV certificate, the resulting driver will not load, run, or install.


So some questions that I had, 1. If we want the drivers to be signed for authenticity then we should use some other certificate than EV certificate? 2. Does it mean that we need to replace the existing EV certificate in the hardware center account with non-EV certificate? 3. Or does it mean that MSFT will itself put an authenticity signature for my corporation based on the account details?
Hope I am asking the right questions in the first place!
Thanks in advance!

No, you’re going in the wrong direction here. There is no downside to an EV cert except the extra cost, and nothing at all will be changing in the Hardware Dev Center. The procedures are exactly the same. The only thing this policy affects is drivers that you self-sign with a cross-certificate, without going through the Hardware Dev Center. That will no longer be possible.

  1. No. If you want drivers signed, then you use the Hardware Dev Center. You won’t be able to sign them yourself.
  2. No. You’re reading between the lines here. The Hardware Center will still require an EV cert.
  3. The whole point of the Hardware Dev Center is that Microsoft signs your package. That’s always been true, and it will continue to be true. No change.
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One more comment, if I may.

  1. Or does it mean that MSFT will itself put an authenticity signature for my corporation based on the account details?

This actually describes the OLD process. Your certificate from your certificate authority is the CA saying “I trust these people.” The cross-certificate is Microsoft saying “I trust this CA”. The Microsoft signature says “I trust this cross-certificate”, and that’s what the system looks for.

With the WHQL process, Microsoft just puts their own certificate on your driver. They are authenticating the driver, NOT your certificate. Indeed, you don’t actually need to sign a driver package before you submit it to the Hardware Dev Center. They’ll put their own on it.

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You do have to sign the package before submission, just not the drivers.
You have to sign it with a cert already associated with the HwDash account,
and not just any cert.

This does not have to be an EV cert, but at least one still valid, EV cert
must be aasociated with HwDash account.
Indeed, most companies get one EV cert, as a basic requirement, but use a
non EV cert to sign submission packages, because EV certs require a
physical device during signature (a USB HSM stick), or an HSM servef. But
non EV ones do not, and multiple users can sign with them at the same time.

With the WHQL process, Microsoft just puts their own certificate on your

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@“Peter_Viscarola_(OSR)” said:
As you’ve noted, I see that some cross-certs have been issued that (as you noted) don’t expire until 2025. That’s super interesting, and it’ll be interesting to know whether the EV Certs that (for example) Entrust issues today are issued by the “Entrust Root Certification Authority – G2” (with a 2025 expiring cross-cert). Here at OSR we, coincidentally, JUST got a new EV Cert from Entrust… I’ll check to see what the specific CA is, and if the new cross-cert works on down-level machines. After all, there’s a separate issue as to whether the “new” Trust Root CA gets updated in the Trust Root Cert Store on Win7 the down-level machines.

So does that mean that if we purchase an EV certificate from entrust right now, we can use that certificate and cross sign kernel drivers for years, even after most of the cross-signed root certificates expire in 4 months?