SQLite with encryption/password protection - encryption

I'm just learning to use SQLite and I was curious if such is possible:
Encryption of the database file?
Password protect opening of the database?
PS. I know that there is this "SQLite Encryption Extension (SEE).", but according to the documentation, "The SEE is licensed software...." and "The cost of a perpetual source code license for SEE is US $2000."

SQLite has hooks built-in for encryption which are not used in the normal distribution, but here are a few implementations I know of:
SEE - The official implementation.
wxSQLite - A wxWidgets style C++ wrapper that also implements SQLite's encryption.
SQLCipher - Uses openSSL's libcrypto to implement.
SQLiteCrypt - Custom implementation, modified API.
botansqlite3 - botansqlite3 is an encryption codec for SQLite3 that can use any algorithms in Botan for encryption.
sqleet - another encryption implementation, using ChaCha20/Poly1305 primitives. Note that wxSQLite mentioned above can use this as a crypto provider.
The SEE and SQLiteCrypt require the purchase of a license.
Disclosure: I created botansqlite3.

You can password protect SQLite3 DB.
For the first time before doing any operations, set password as follows.
SQLiteConnection conn = new SQLiteConnection("Data Source=MyDatabase.sqlite;Version=3;");
conn.SetPassword("password");
conn.open();
then next time you can access it like
conn = new SQLiteConnection("Data Source=MyDatabase.sqlite;Version=3;Password=password;");
conn.Open();
This wont allow any GUI editor to view Your data.
Later if you wish to change the password, use conn.ChangePassword("new_password");
To reset or remove password, use conn.ChangePassword(String.Empty);

The .net library System.Data.SQLite also provides for encryption.

You can get sqlite3.dll file with encryption support from http://system.data.sqlite.org/.
1 - Go to http://system.data.sqlite.org/index.html/doc/trunk/www/downloads.wiki and download one of the packages. .NET version is irrelevant here.
2 - Extract SQLite.Interop.dll from package and rename it to sqlite3.dll. This DLL supports encryption via plaintext passwords or encryption keys.
The mentioned file is native and does NOT require .NET framework. It might need Visual C++ Runtime depending on the package you have downloaded.
UPDATE
This is the package that I've downloaded for 32-bit development: http://system.data.sqlite.org/blobs/1.0.94.0/sqlite-netFx40-static-binary-Win32-2010-1.0.94.0.zip

Keep in mind, the following is not intended to be a substitute for a proper security solution.
After playing around with this for four days, I've put together a solution using only the open source System.Data.SQLite package from NuGet. I don't know how much protection this provides. I'm only using it for my own course of study. This will create the DB, encrypt it, create a table, and add data.
using System.Data.SQLite;
namespace EncryptDB
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string connectionString = #"C:\Programming\sqlite3\db.db";
string passwordString = "password";
byte[] passwordBytes = GetBytes(passwordString);
SQLiteConnection.CreateFile(connectionString);
SQLiteConnection conn = new SQLiteConnection("Data Source=" + connectionString + ";Version=3;");
conn.SetPassword(passwordBytes);
conn.Open();
SQLiteCommand sqlCmd = new SQLiteCommand("CREATE TABLE data(filename TEXT, filepath TEXT, filelength INTEGER, directory TEXT)", conn);
sqlCmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
sqlCmd = new SQLiteCommand("INSERT INTO data VALUES('name', 'path', 200, 'dir')", conn);
sqlCmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
conn.Close();
}
static byte[] GetBytes(string str)
{
byte[] bytes = new byte[str.Length * sizeof(char)];
bytes = System.Text.Encoding.Default.GetBytes(str);
return bytes;
}
}
}
Optionally, you can remove conn.SetPassword(passwordBytes);, and replace it with conn.ChangePassword("password"); which needs to be placed after conn.Open(); instead of before. Then you won't need the GetBytes method.
To decrypt, it's just a matter of putting the password in your connection string before the call to open.
string filename = #"C:\Programming\sqlite3\db.db";
string passwordString = "password";
SQLiteConnection conn = new SQLiteConnection("Data Source=" + filename + ";Version=3;Password=" + passwordString + ";");
conn.Open();

You can always encrypt data on the client side. Please note that not all of the data have to be encrypted because it has a performance issue.

You can use SQLite's function creation routines (PHP manual):
$db_obj->sqliteCreateFunction('Encrypt', 'MyEncryptFunction', 2);
$db_obj->sqliteCreateFunction('Decrypt', 'MyDecryptFunction', 2);
When inserting data, you can use the encryption function directly and INSERT the encrypted data or you can use the custom function and pass unencrypted data:
$insert_obj = $db_obj->prepare('INSERT INTO table (Clear, Encrypted) ' .
'VALUES (:clear, Encrypt(:data, "' . $passwordhash_str . '"))');
When retrieving data, you can also use SQL search functionality:
$select_obj = $db_obj->prepare('SELECT Clear, ' .
'Decrypt(Encrypted, "' . $passwordhash_str . '") AS PlainText FROM table ' .
'WHERE PlainText LIKE :searchterm');

Well, SEE is expensive. However SQLite has interface built-in for encryption (Pager). This means, that on top of existing code one can easily develop some encryption mechanism, does not have to be AES. Anything really.
Please see my post here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/49161716/9418360
You need to define SQLITE_HAS_CODEC=1 to enable Pager encryption. Sample code below (original SQLite source):
#ifdef SQLITE_HAS_CODEC
/*
** This function is called by the wal module when writing page content
** into the log file.
**
** This function returns a pointer to a buffer containing the encrypted
** page content. If a malloc fails, this function may return NULL.
*/
SQLITE_PRIVATE void *sqlite3PagerCodec(PgHdr *pPg){
void *aData = 0;
CODEC2(pPg->pPager, pPg->pData, pPg->pgno, 6, return 0, aData);
return aData;
}
#endif
There is a commercial version in C language for SQLite encryption using AES256 - it can also work with PHP, but it needs to be compiled with PHP and SQLite extension. It de/encrypts SQLite database file on the fly, file contents are always encrypted. Very useful.
http://www.iqx7.com/products/sqlite-encryption

I had also similar problem. Needed to store sensitive data in simple database (SQLite was the perfect choice except security). Finally I have placed database file on TrueCrypt encrypted valume.
Additional console app mounts temporary drive using TrueCrypt CLI and then starts the database application. Waits until the database application exits and then dismounts the drive again.
Maybe not suitable solution in all scenarios but for me working well ...

Related

Encryption and Security with C# and SQL

I have seen the examples but I'm hoping to run this by other programmers. For encryption within my window forms app, I am generating two random numbers and saving them in an SQL Server table like thus:
OPEN SYMMETRIC KEY SymmetricKeyName DECRYPTION BY CERTIFICATE CertificateName;
insert into keyfile(encrypted_key1, encrypted_key2) values
(EncryptByKey(Key_GUID('SymmetricKeyName'), **Key1**),
EncryptByKey(Key_GUID('SymmetricKeyName'), **Key2**))
Then I am using the keys to encrypt a file using AES-256 as follows:
var key = new Rfc2898DeriveBytes(**Key1, Key2**, 1000);
RijndaelManaged AES = new RijndaelManaged();
AES.KeySize = 256;
AES.BlockSize = 128;
AES.Key = key.GetBytes(AES.KeySize / 8);
AES.IV = key.GetBytes(AES.BlockSize / 8);
AES.Padding = PaddingMode.Zeros;
AES.Mode = CipherMode.CBC;
using (var output = File.Create(outputFile))
{
using (var crypto = new CryptoStream(output, AES.CreateEncryptor(), CryptoStreamMode.Write))
{
using (var input = File.OpenRead(inputFile))
{
input.CopyTo(crypto);
}
}
}
etc.
In order to perform decryption both keys that were used to encrypt the file are required. Decryption is possible through software requiring two authenticated users. The keys change every day. The data and the database are sufficiently physically secure. The key table is in a separate database from the certificate.
The question is: Does this secure the data enough to not be readily be decrypted and, if now, why not and what changes might you suggest?
The problem here is that there is a high probability that anyone that is able to obtain the file is also able to obtain the data in the database (which includes the key). Once the data is compromised, it doesn't matter how often you change the key since the attacker would have a copy of the file encrypted with the key that matches it.
Common solutions to this problem are to use an external Hardware Security Module or something like a TPM.
Here is a very useful and related post that enumerates several options.
As suggested by others, you can store the key on a USB, alternatively a network share. However if on a network share you might need to change the Service Logon to an account with access to the network share.
"SYMMETRIC KEY" might be an issue here. They are similar to a xor operation, the same key works to both encrypt and decrypt.
For a 'cooler' method, use ASYMMETRIC keys instead, then the database can keep the 'how to encrypt' half, while your application can have the 'how to decrypt' half. It's a lot of effort, but "not even the DBAs can see the secret data" is a cool feature.

How to recreate ASP encryption function in a script?

I currently have an ASP web application that amongst other things, performs encryption on a string. I would like to utilize this encryption function outside of my application to encrypt a set of strings. I need to utilize the same encryption function because these encrypted strings will be inserted into the application's database and decrypted within the application.
Q: Is it possible to write a powershell script to utilize the ASP encryption function? If not, what are the correct "tools" that would be needed to read a set of strings and encrypt them in the same way the ASP application would, so that they can be decrypted by the application later on?
Encryption Function:
Function Encrypt(pwd)
Dim key
key = "_-#{[}]|!`~>(-<+"
Dim strRet
Dim nStrLen
nStrLen = Len(pwd)
Dim n
For n = 1 To nStrLen
strRet = strRet & Chr(Asc(Mid(pwd, n, 1)) Xor Asc(Mid(key, n, 1)))
Next
Encrypt = strRet
End Function
You have a couple of options.
First, you can migrate that script function into a .NET CLR language such as C# or VB, then package that function into an assembly. You can then call that assembly from a Powershell script, using the add-type cmdlet.
Add-Type -Path c:\path\myAssembly.dll
Second, you can actually take the C# or VB.NET converted source and integrate it directly into a Powershell script with a variation on add-type, with the -TypeDefinition switch pointing to a local variable containing the source text (totally untested example):
$mySource=#"public class psdemo{
public int somevalue(){
return 100;
}
}"#
Add-Type -TypeDefinition $mySource
[psdemo]::somevalue()

SHA1 File Hash in Classic ASP or ASP.NET

I have a website that allows users to upload files which are in turn stored in a Microsoft SQL Database.
The database contains hundreds of thousands of images and is becoming unmanagable. As such I've written a powershell script that extracts those images from the database to the filesystem and then generates a SHA1 hash of the file as such:
$SHA1 = Get-Checksum -Algorithm sha1 -File ($Dest + "$i.jpg")
Going forward I no longer want to store images in the database but rather use the file system however I still need to generate SHA1 hashes of each file.
I've been unable to find any documentation on generating SHA1 file hashes in classic asp or asp.net (c# or vb.net).
Note I specifically need to know how to generate FILE HASHES - not hashes of strings.
Has anyone else done this or know if or how it can be done? Any example code you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Brad
using (FileStream fs = new FileStream(#"C:\file\location", FileMode.Open))
using (BufferedStream bs = new BufferedStream(fs))
{
using (SHA1Managed sha1 = new SHA1Managed())
{
byte[] hash = sha1.ComputeHash(bs);
StringBuilder formatted = new StringBuilder(2 * hash.Length);
foreach (byte b in hash)
{
formatted.AppendFormat("{0:X2}", b);
}
}
}
formatted contains the string representation of the SHA-1 hash. Also, by using a FileStream instead of a byte buffer, ComputeHash computes the hash in chunks, so you don't have to load the entire file in one go, which is helpful for large files.
Answer borrowed from mgbowen in How do I do a SHA1 File Checksum in C#?

A way to generate a signature or a hash of an image in ASP.NET for duplicate detection?

I run a rather large site where my members add thousands of images every day. Obviously there is a lot of duplication and i was just wondering if during an upload of an image i can somehow generate a signature or a hash of an image so i can store it. And every time someone uploads the picture i would simply run a check if this signature already exists and fire an error stating that this image already exists. Not sure if this kind of technology already exists for asp.net but i am aware of tineye.com which sort of does it already.
If you think you can help i would appreciate your input.
Kris
A keyword that might be of interest is perceptual hashing.
You use any derived HashAlgorithm to generate a hash from the byte array of the file. Usually MD5 is used, but you could subsitute this for any of those provided in the System.Security.Cryptography namespace. This works for any binary, not just images.
Lots of sites provide MD5 hashes when you download files to verify if you've downloaded the file properly. For instance, an ISO CD/DVD image may be missing bytes when you've received the whole thing. Once you've downloaded the file, you generate the hash for it and make sure it's the same as the site says it should be. If all compares, you've got an exact copy.
I would probably use something similar to this:
public static class Helpers
{
//If you're running .NET 2.0 or lower, remove the 'this' keyword from the
//method signature as 2.0 doesn't support extension methods.
static string GetHashString(this byte[] bytes, HashAlgorithm cryptoProvider)
{
byte[] hash = cryptoProvider.ComputeHash(bytes);
return Convert.ToBase64String(hash);
}
}
Requires:
using System.Security.Cryptography;
Call using:
byte[] bytes = File.ReadAllBytes("FilePath");
string filehash = bytes.GetHashString(new MD5CryptoServiceProvider());
or if you're running in .NET 2.0 or lower:
string filehash = Helpers.GetHashString(File.ReadAllBytes("FilePath"), new MD5CryptoServiceProvider());
If you were to decide to go with a different hashing method instead of MD5 for the miniscule probability of collisions:
string filehash = bytes.GetHashString(new SHA1CryptoServiceProvider());
This way your has method isn't crypto provider specific and if you were to decide you wanted to change which crypto provider you're using, you just inject a different one into the cryptoProvider parameter.
You can use any of the other hashing classes just by changing the service provider you pass in:
string md5Hash = bytes.GetHashString(new MD5CryptoServiceProvider());
string sha1Hash = bytes.GetHashString(new SHA1CryptoServiceProvider());
string sha256Hash = bytes.GetHashString(new SHA256CryptoServiceProvider());
string sha384Hash = bytes.GetHashString(new SHA384CryptoServiceProvider());
string sha512Hash = bytes.GetHashString(new SHA512CryptoServiceProvider());
Typically you'd just use MD5 or similar to create a hash. This isn't guaranteed to be unique though, so I'd recommend you use the hash as a starting point. Identify if the image matches any known hashes you stored, then individually load the ones that it does match and do a full byte comparison on the potential collisions to be sure.
Another, simpler technique though is to simply pick a smallish number of bits and read first part of the image... store that number of starting bits as if they were a hash. This still gives you a small number of potential collisions that you'd need to check, but has much less overhead.
Look in the System.Security.Cryptography namespace. You have your choice of several hashing algorithms/implementations. Here's an example using md5, but since you have a lot of these you might want something bigger like SHA1:
public byte[] HashImage(Stream imageData)
{
return new MD5CryptoServiceProvider().ComputeHash(imageData);
}
I don't know if it already exists or not, but I can't think of a reason you can't do this yourself. Something similar to this will get you a hash of the file.
var fileStream = Request.Files[0].InputStream;//the uploaded file
var hasher = System.Security.Cryptography.HMACMD5();
var theHash = hasher.ComputeHash(fileStream);
System.Security.Cryptography

What's the best way to display an image from a sql server database in asp.net?

I have a sql server database that returns byte for the image. If I use the tableadapter wizard and set it to my stored procedure and preview data, it pulls back an image. It automatically turns it into an image in the preview data. I don't see it as a string of Ints or anything.
How can I display it on my asp.net webpage with a gridview and objectdatasource?
I have searched and foudn where the imagefield can point to a url on another page that does the byte transformation but I'm not sure it's the best. I found another way that creates a temp file.
Just trying to see the best way to do it.
edit - I am trying not to use a temp file. If I cannot use a gridview a regular image field is ok.
asp.net 2.0, c#.
Thank you for any help.
edit
ended up with:
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string id = Request["id"];
string connstr = "DSN=myserver";
OdbcConnection conn = new OdbcConnection(connstr);
OdbcCommand cmd = new OdbcCommand("{call mySP (?)}", conn);
cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
// Add the input parameter and set its properties.
OdbcParameter parameter = new OdbcParameter();
parameter.ParameterName = "#MyParam";
parameter.OdbcType = OdbcType.VarChar;
parameter.Direction = ParameterDirection.Input;
parameter.Value = id;
// Add the parameter to the Parameters collection.
cmd.Parameters.Add(parameter);
conn.Open();
OdbcDataReader dr = cmd.ExecuteReader();
while (dr.Read())
{
byte[] buffer = (byte[])dr[0];
Response.ContentType = "image/jpg";
Response.BinaryWrite(buffer);
Response.Flush();
}
}
and this on the calling page:
<asp:Image ID="Image1" ImageAlign="Middle" ImageUrl="show.aspx?id=123" Runat="server" />
Two options:
Create a temp file - The problem with this approach is that you have to create the file, which means your web must have write access to a directory which is not a great thing. You also need to have a way to clean up the images.
Serve it from another URL - This is my preferred method, as you have no disk access required. A simple http handler (ashx) is a great method to serve up the image.
Edit
If you need session state in the ashx, check out: Asp.net System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Session null in global.asax.
Edit
Couple more thoughts. There are some cases where using a temp file might be better. For example if your images are requested frequently by a lot of users. Then storing the images on the disk would make sense, since you could write the file once, this does increase the maintance complexity but depending on traffic it might be worth it since this would let you avoid calling back into the .net stack and leverage IIS caching of static content.
I wrote the SqlReader plugin for open-source ImageResizing.Net library to allow you to serve and display images from a SQL database in the most performance-optimal way.
Even if you don't need to do any image processing whatsoever, it's still (a) the easiest, and (b) the most efficient way to do it. You can combine it with disk caching (which provides automatic cleanup) to get the best performance that is possible.
Installation is easy - 2 nuget commands, or copy & paste into Web.Config, your pick.
If you need help, support is free and fast.
The sample code you added is good but you should move it to a .ashx file which is meant for such things.
Here is some example code on how to do this.

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