Encrypt connectionString attribute of connectionStrings section

Question

System at my hotel has connection string like this in exe.config file. Now we want to move our database server but we can't because of this. I want to know if this kind of encrypt can be achieve using any defaul encrypt technique or is it a custom one? (*We can't contact the original developer since the company went bankrupt)

  <connectionStrings>
    <add name="connectionString" connectionString="XWsoQ6X8Cb3oNDHUPlwKa9XOZgYXxk40iHBtYOy9GgPNKUmQkezt4HFqGYTZfUILtYFi5FA2gzw1DqnbKW3G858uFEpbSTRTYt/OP16Y5cs=" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
  </connectionStrings>

Search across the source code for "FromBase64String", and add that line and the surroundings to your question. — Martheen, Aug 01 '17 at 03:03
@Martheen haha, I tried decoding from Base64 and it looked like gibberish though. — Poosh, Aug 01 '17 at 04:18
@Poosh Which is why I ask for the actual code where it decode it from Base64, it may run it through an AES or XOR for all we know. — Martheen, Aug 01 '17 at 06:27

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 01 '17 at 02:32

The standard way to encrypt connections strings is with aspnet_regiis.exe, and that isn't it.

If I were attempting what you're seeing (as a developer), I'd probably use machine key encryption and decrypt for application use in a static config class.

Does your .config file have a <machineKey> element? If so, you may be able to decrypt the connection string using that key.

Encrypt connectionString attribute of connectionStrings section

1 Answers1