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Unable to Importing User Certificate into Firefox

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  • 3 have this problem
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  • Last reply by guigs

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I am struggling to import User certificates generated by our Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Authority (running 2012 R2) into Firefox. I have exported from IE, used openssl pkcs12 commands to break the certificate apart into specific ca certs, client certs and private key to verify content. Created a new .pfx file from those individual parts. Nothing I can do gets me past failed to import because of unspecified error from Firefox. I have tried manually using pk12util command as well, using the -i option it fails saying unable to import the private key, however pk12util -l shows that the private key is part of the pkcs12 certificate file. I have come to the conclusion that the private keys being generated are incompatible with Firefox, but I haven't been able to find any information on what keys are compatible or incompatible, so I can see if adjustments on the certificate Authority will prevent this in the future. We will soon be implementing some web applications that will require client certificates. And I don't want to enforce the need for users to use IE instead of Firefox due to the inability to import the Certificate.

pk12util -l ... output: Certificate(has private key):

   Data:
       Version: 3 (0x2)
       Serial Number:
           ...
       Signature Algorithm: PKCS #1 SHA-1 With RSA Encryption
       Issuer: ...
       Validity:
           Not Before: Thu Sep 18 20:59:04 2014

... Key(shrouded):

   Friendly Name: ...
   Encryption algorithm: PKCS #12 V2 PBE With SHA-1 And 3KEY Triple DES-CBC
       Parameters:
           Salt:
               ....

pk12util -i ... output: pk12util: PKCS12 decode import bags failed: SEC_ERROR_PKCS12_UNABLE_TO_IMPORT_KEY: Unable to import. Error attempting to import private key.

Does anyone have any ideas?

I am struggling to import User certificates generated by our Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Authority (running 2012 R2) into Firefox. I have exported from IE, used openssl pkcs12 commands to break the certificate apart into specific ca certs, client certs and private key to verify content. Created a new .pfx file from those individual parts. Nothing I can do gets me past failed to import because of unspecified error from Firefox. I have tried manually using pk12util command as well, using the -i option it fails saying unable to import the private key, however pk12util -l shows that the private key is part of the pkcs12 certificate file. I have come to the conclusion that the private keys being generated are incompatible with Firefox, but I haven't been able to find any information on what keys are compatible or incompatible, so I can see if adjustments on the certificate Authority will prevent this in the future. We will soon be implementing some web applications that will require client certificates. And I don't want to enforce the need for users to use IE instead of Firefox due to the inability to import the Certificate. pk12util -l ... output: Certificate(has private key): Data: Version: 3 (0x2) Serial Number: ... Signature Algorithm: PKCS #1 SHA-1 With RSA Encryption Issuer: ... Validity: Not Before: Thu Sep 18 20:59:04 2014 ... Key(shrouded): Friendly Name: ... Encryption algorithm: PKCS #12 V2 PBE With SHA-1 And 3KEY Triple DES-CBC Parameters: Salt: .... pk12util -i ... output: pk12util: PKCS12 decode import bags failed: SEC_ERROR_PKCS12_UNABLE_TO_IMPORT_KEY: Unable to import. Error attempting to import private key. Does anyone have any ideas?

All Replies (1)

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I believe this update has phased out this certificate type, please see today's blog post: https://blog.mozilla.org/security/