Securing SanteDB APIs

If you are running SanteDB iCDR or dCDR in a context where they need to be accessed from outside the datacenter, you will need to setup the services to use TLS.

This will require obtaining an SSL certificate, installing the certificate into the local certificate store using either:

  • Microsoft Management Console (mmc) Certificates snap-in.

  • certmgr on Mono (Linux or Mac)

  • SSL Termination (for REST APIs only)

Securing the HL7v2 interfaces is documented in SanteDB HL7v2 Implementation and is not covered here.

Securing iCDR and dCDR Directly

Microsoft Windows Operating Systems

If installing SanteDB on Microsoft Windows, you should obtain a security certificate from a certificate authority. Once obtained, install the certificate into the Machine context of the host operating system.

  1. Press (WIN)+R and type mmc

  2. Use File -> Add/Remove Snap-In and select Certificates

  3. Select the Computer Account and ensure the local server is the target

  4. Import your certificate and private key (which you generated to get the certificate) into the Personal store. When completed you should see the certificate with a key indicator

Once this is complete, you should use the SanteDB Configuration Tool Certificate Binding to bind the certificate to the service and endpoint.

Securing dCDR Installations

You can also secure dCDR instances, however the process is a manual one. First, you should configure the dCDR web or gateway service like you normally would (i.e. join the domain and ensure you can login with localhost:9200)

  1. Obtain the certificate thumbprint information from the certificate details:

  2. In an elevated command prompt, bind the dCDR HTTP listener port to the certificate via netsh for example: netsh http add sslcert ipport=0.0.0.0:9200 appid={A97FB5DE-7627-401C-8E70-5B96C1A0073B} certhash=<hash-of-your-cert>

  3. If your dCDR instance is running as a less privileged account (other than LOCAL SERVICE) then you will need to reserve the URL: netsh http add urlacl url=http://+:9200 user=<user-of-service>

  4. In an elevated text editor (like notepad) open %systemroot%\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\AppData\Roaming\santedb-www\default\SanteDB.config

  5. You should edit the RestConfigurationSection and bind each of the service ports from http://127.0.0.1:9200 to https://127.0.0.1:9200

  6. Save the configuration file

  7. Restart the SanteDBWWW service

Using NGINX Reverse Proxy

The best way to run SanteDB iCDR and dCDR services is behind a reverse proxy using NGINX. This allows the components within the data center to communicate directly with one another (on a secure private network) without TLS overhead and only uses encryption when data leaves the private network.

To use NGINX you will have to create a /etc/nginx/services-available/name.domain.com file with the following contents. The configuration has two pieces:

  1. A configuration for the secured service you're exposing (recommended 8443 for iCDR and 443 for dCDR)

  2. A configuration for the unsecured service which redirects to the secured port.

# Example of iCDR API
server {
        listen 8443 ssl;
        listen [::]:8443 ssl;

        # For dCDR you should maybe use
        # listen 443 ssl;
        # listen [::]:443 ssl;
        
        # These should be the X509 cert and private key
        # you got from your CA
        ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/my_cert.crt;
        ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/my_key.rsa;

        # This is the host name of the server you're binding to
        server_name name-of-your-server.net;

        location / {
                # Forward to app server
                proxy_pass http://internal-ip-address:8080/;
                proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
                proxy_cookie_domain internal-ip-address name-of-your-server.net;
                proxy_pass_request_headers on;
        }
}

# Server redirects any unsecured requests to secured
server {
        listen 8080;
        listen [::]:8080;
        server_name name-of-your-server.net;
        return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
}

You should then link this file to the /etc/nginx/sites-enabled directory and restart nginx.

Client Certificates

You can secure the SanteDB APIs using dual-PKI (public key infrastructure) authentication. This method of API security will require that a remote node present a valid, trusted RSA certificate prior to any application level logic being executed. There are some configurations where this strategy can be deployed:

  1. Securing the OAUTH endpoint so that devices must present a certificate prior to obtaining an access token.

  2. Securing all API endpoints so that even those with valid access tokens must present the certificate.

In order to use client certificate authentication, the SanteDB iCDR or dCDR must be configured to use HTTPS as described in the above instructions. If using NGINX as a TLS termination point, the PEM for the certificate must be passed to the SanteDB server in the X-SSL-ClientCert header.

Configuring the client certificates first requires the netsh command to be used to require client certificates:

netsh http add sslcert ipport=0.0.0.0:8443 certhash={your-certificate-for-the-server} 
   appid={A97FB5DE-7627-401C-8E70-5B96C1A0073B} clientcertnegotiation=true

Next an implementation of the ICertificateIdentityProvider must be configured in the SanteDB service. This service maps an X509 certificate to a user, device, or application. In your <services> node, add a reference to the certificate handler. 

<add type="SanteDB.Persistence.Data.Services.AdoCertificateIdentityProvider, SanteDB.Persistence.Data" />

Next, the endpoints in the SanteDB configuration file need to be changed from http:// scheme to https:// scheme, and the ClientCertificateAccessBehavior added to the service. For example, if your OAUTH configuration is:

<service name="OAuth2" 
  implementationType="SanteDB.Rest.OAuth.Rest.OAuthServiceBehavior, SanteDB.Rest.OAuth">
  <behaviors>
  </behaviors>
  <endpoint contract="SanteDB.Rest.OAuth.Rest.IOAuthServiceContract, SanteDB.Rest.OAuth" 
     address="http://0.0.0.0:8443/auth">
    <behaviors />
  </endpoint>
</service>

Then the configuration to use client certificates should be updated to:

<service name="OAuth2" 
    implementationType="SanteDB.Rest.OAuth.Rest.OAuthServiceBehavior, SanteDB.Rest.OAuth">
  <behaviors>
    <add type="SanteDB.Rest.Common.Security.ClientCertificateAccessBehavior, SanteDB.Rest.Common">
      <configuration>
          <ClientCertificateAccessConfiguration revokeCheck="Online">
            <allowClientHeader>false</allowClientHeader>
            <trustedIssuers>
              <add findType="FindByThumbprint" storeName="My" storeLocation="LocalMachine" findValue="59EC967D51DA999AB4EE0E082C12ED288DD05FAB" />
            </trustedIssuers>
          </ClientCertificateAccessConfiguration>
        </configuration>
    </add>
  </behaviors>
  <endpoint contract="SanteDB.Rest.OAuth.Rest.IOAuthServiceContract, SanteDB.Rest.OAuth" 
    address="https://0.0.0.0:8443/auth">
    <behaviors />
    <certificate findType="FindByThumbprint" storeName="My" storeLocation="LocalMachine" findValue="59EC967D51DA999AB4EE0E082C12ED288DD05FAB" />
    <clientCerts>true</clientCerts>
  </endpoint>
</service>

The <configuration> element of the client certificate access behavior controls how the access behavior validates the client certificate including.

Option
Values
Description

revokeCheck

Online, Offline, None

Controls how client certificates' revokation status is validated.

allowClientHeader

true, false

Indicates whether the X-SSL-ClientCert header is to be allowed. Note: If running behind NGINX with SSL termination this must be true, if not it is recommended to be false.

trustedIssuers

X509 Certificate

The trusted issuers of client certificates. If the client presents a certificate that is valid to the operating system, however is not issued by a CA in this list then the access request will be denied.

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