C# convert certificate string into X509 certificate

Question

I am receiving a string and want to convert that into a certificate using C#. I tried following code and got " The input is not a valid Base-64 string as it contains a non-base 64 character, more than two padding characters, or an illegal character among the padding characters. " error:

 byte[] bytes = Convert.FromBase64String(((string[])request.Headers.GetValues("MY-Cert"))[0]);
                var cert = new X509Certificate2(bytes);

What is the best way to read such string using C#.

Similar question was asked here but using C++

I am receiving string in following format:

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----

Answer 1

Following code worked for me;

IEnumerable<string> headerValues;
var usercert = request.Headers.TryGetValues("MY-Cert", out headerValues);
var data = WebUtility.UrlDecode(((string[])headerValues)[0]);
byte[] bytes = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(data);
var cert = new X509Certificate2(bytes);
              

Answer 2

As it was pointed in comments, you need to remove first and last lines from PEM string and then convert Base64 string to X509Certificate2 object.

String certPemString = ((string[])request.Headers.GetValues("MY-Cert"))[0];
certPemString = certPemString
    .Replace("-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----",null)
    .Replace("-----END CERTIFICATE-----",null);
var cert = new X509Certificate2(Convert.FromBase64String(certPemString));

Answer 3

That is PEM format you need to covert to PKCS7.

More info on formats here. https://comodosslstore.com/resources/a-ssl-certificate-file-extension-explanation-pem-pkcs7-der-and-pkcs12/

To convert to the correct format with OpenSSL.

openssl crl2pkcs7 -nocrl -certfile certificate.cer -out certificate.p7b -certfile CACert.cer

certificate.cer will be your current PEM text saved in a certificate.cer file and assuming you got this from a CA or self generate CA you will need to provide the CACert.cer to sign the output.