Client Certificate Mapping Uses Multiple Organization Units (197461)

We strongly recommend that all users upgrade to Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) version 6.0 running on Microsoft Windows Server 2003. IIS 6.0 significantly increases Web infrastructure security. For more information about IIS security-related topics, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/prodtech/IIS.mspx

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to use a Client Certificate with multiple subject Organization Unit (OU) fields, Internet Information Server (IIS) may not read the certificate as expected.

CAUSE

IIS does not read more than the first field of Subject OUs for some non- Certificate Server certificate formats.

For example, if the Subject OU line contains multiple entries delimited by semicolons, IIS will not recognize any entries beyond the first semicolon.

In the following example, Internet Information Server would detect My Company, but not Level 1 or Level 2:

My Company; Level 1; Level 2

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT 4.0 or Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

152734 How to Obtain the Latest Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Internet Information Server version 4.0. This problem was first corrected in Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition Service Pack 4.

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information on Certificate Server and Client Certificate Mapping, see the Windows NT Option Pack for the following online documentation:

   SSL Client Certificate Authentication
   Microsoft Internet Information Server
   Server Administration
   Security
   Authentication
   About Authentication
   Obtaining Client Certificate Information with ASP
   Mapping Client Certificates to User Accounts

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

190157 Support for Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack on Terminal Server