Featured Project

CertificateTool - SSL/TLS Certificate Management

A dotnet-based tool for managing SSL/TLS certificates

• Category: Security Tools

Technologies Used

dotnet
ssl tls certificates windows security dotnet

CertificateTool

A Windows desktop application for simplified SSL/TLS certificate management

CertificateTool is a comprehensive Windows Forms .NET application designed to make SSL/TLS certificate management accessible and efficient. Whether you’re a system administrator, developer, or security professional, CertificateTool provides an intuitive interface for generating Certificate Signing Requests (CSRs), creating PFX files with complete certificate chains, validating certificates, and managing self-signed certificates.

Key Features

Certificate Operations

  • Self-Signed Certificates - Generate test certificates with customizable validity periods (1 month to 10 years)
  • Certificate Validation - Comprehensive validation with color-coded warnings and chain verification
  • Multi-Format Support - Import and export PFX, PEM, and DER formats seamlessly
  • Certificate Information - View detailed certificate properties, SANs, key usage, and extensions

Advanced Cryptography

  • RSA Keys - 2048, 3072, or 4096-bit key sizes
  • ECDSA Keys - P-256, P-384, and P-521 elliptic curves
  • Hash Algorithms - SHA-256, SHA-384, and SHA-512 support

Settings & Convenience

  • Organizational Defaults - Save common certificate fields for quick population
  • Recent Files - Quick access to frequently used certificates
  • Keyboard Shortcuts - Efficient workflows with Ctrl+1-6 for tabs, Ctrl+N/O/S for operations
  • Settings Import/Export - Backup and share configurations across machines

Coming Soon

Phase 2: CSR Generation - Full Certificate Signing Request creation with Subject Alternative Names (SANs) and dual export of CSR and private key.

Phase 3: PFX Chain Builder - Visual drag-and-drop chain builder for creating IIS-ready PFX files with complete certificate chains.

Technical Specifications

  • Framework: .NET 8.0 (Windows Forms)
  • Architecture: Clean Architecture (Core, Infrastructure, UI)
  • Platform: Windows 10 version 1809 or later
  • Dependencies: BouncyCastle.Cryptography for advanced certificate operations

Download

Current Release: v1.1 (November 2025)

Download the self-contained Windows executable (no installation required):

CertificateTool.UI.exe (68 MB)

SHA-256 Checksum:

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b1e5e35ae5c87dca259139ecf05d33f950269cfcd45e4eab19eb79de036218da

To verify the download:

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# PowerShell
Get-FileHash CertificateTool.UI.exe -Algorithm SHA256

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# Linux/macOS (for verification only)
sha256sum CertificateTool.UI.exe

Security Considerations

Best Practices

  • Use strong passwords for PFX files (12+ characters with mixed case, numbers, symbols)
  • Store private keys in secure locations with appropriate file permissions
  • Validate certificate chains before deploying to production servers
  • Use minimum 2048-bit RSA keys (3072-bit or 4096-bit recommended for long-lived certificates)
  • Never commit certificates with private keys to source control

Application Security

  • Private keys are exportable only with explicit user confirmation
  • Passwords are not stored in memory after use
  • No logging of sensitive certificate data
  • Secure file handling with proper cleanup
  • Certificate files in project directory excluded via .gitignore