IP Library Granted Patent US 11,165,774
Granted Patent B2
US 11,165,774 · App. 16/220,657 · Granted Nov 2, 2021

Delegated authentication to certificate authorities

Inventors: Eugene Liderman (Olney, MD); Rahul Parwani (Atlanta, GA); Kiran Rohankar (Atlanta, GA); Keith Robertson (Johns Creek, GA)
Assignee: VMWARE, INC.
H04L63/0884G06F9/546H04L9/321H04L9/3236H04L63/083H04L63/0823G06F2209/548
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,165,774
App. No.
16/220,657
Granted
Nov 2, 2021
Kind
B2
Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments for delegating authentication to certificate authorities. A first request for a certificate is received from a client device. Then a certificate request can be created. The certificate request may include a credential identifier for a certificate authority. The credential identifier may uniquely identify an authentication credential to use to request the certificate from certificate authority. The certificate request can then be added to a message queue. Later, a second request from another computing device is received and the message stored in the message queue is provided in response. A certificate is then received from the other computing device and is provided to the client device in response to the first request.

Claims (52)

1. A system, comprising:

a first computing device comprising a hardware processor and a memory;

machine-readable instructions comprising a management service stored in the memory that, when executed by the processor, cause the first computing device to at least:

receive, by the management service, a request for a certificate from a client device, the first request comprising a certificate authority identifier;

determine, by the management service, based at least in part on the certificate authority identifier, that the client device is associated with an enterprise computing environment comprising at least one second computing device configured to execute a certificate authority;

in an instance in which a credential identifier is identified as related to the certificate authority identifier, create, by the management service, a certificate request comprising the credential identifier for the certificate authority, the credential identifier uniquely identifying an authentication credential to use to request the certificate from the certificate authority;

identify, by the management service, a message queue stored by the management service in association with an instance of a messenger connector executable by the at least one second computing device;

add, by the management service, the certificate request to a message queue;

receive, by the management service, a message retrieval request from the messenger connector of the at least one second computing device in data communication with the management service;

provide, by the management service, the certificate request to the at least one second computing device based on the message retrieval request;

remove, by the management service, the certificate request from the message queue;

receive, by the management service, the certificate from the at least one second computing device; and

provide, by the management service, the certificate to the client device.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the machine-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the first computing device to at least authenticate the client device.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the message queue is associated with the at least one second computing device.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the authentication credential comprises a pre-shared cryptographic key.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the authentication credential comprises a combination of a username and a password.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the credential identifier comprises an incremented numeric counter.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the credential identifier comprises a hash of the authentication credential.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a management service executed using a first at least one computing device comprising at least one hardware processor, a request for a certificate from a client device, the request comprising a certificate authority identifier;

determining, by the management service and based at least in part on the certificate authority identifier, that the client device is associated with an enterprise computing environment comprising at least one second computing device configured to execute a certificate authority;

in an instance in which a credential identifier is identified as related to the certificate authority identifier, creating, by the management service, a certificate request comprising the credential identifier for the certificate authority, the credential identifier uniquely identifying an authentication credential to use to request the certificate from the certificate authority;

identifying, by the management service, a message queue stored by the management service in association with an instance of a messenger connector executable by the at least one second computing device;

adding, by the management service, the certificate request to a message queue;

receiving, by the management service, a message retrieval request from the messenger connector of the at least one second computing device in data communication with the management service;

providing, by the management service, the certificate request to the at least one second computing device based on the message retrieval request;

removing, by the management service, the certificate request from the message queue;

receiving, by the management service, the certificate from the at least one second computing device; and

providing, by the management service, the certificate to the client device.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising authenticating the client device.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the message queue is associated with the at least one second computing device.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the authentication credential comprises a pre-shared cryptographic key.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the authentication credential comprises a combination of a username and a password.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the credential identifier comprises an incremented numeric counter.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the credential identifier comprises a hash of the authentication credential.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, comprising machine-readable instructions comprising a management service that, when executed by a hardware processor, cause a first at least one computing device to at least:

receive, by the management service, a request for a certificate from a client device, the request comprising a certificate authority identifier;

determine, by the management service, based at least in part on the certificate authority identifier, that the client device is associated with an enterprise computing environment comprising at least one second computing device configured to execute a certificate authority;

in an instance in which a credential identifier is identified as related to the certificate authority identifier, create, by the management service, a certificate request comprising the credential identifier for the certificate authority, the credential identifier uniquely identifying an authentication credential to use to request the certificate from the certificate authority;

identify, by the management service, a message queue stored by the management service in association with an instance of a messenger connector executed by the at least one second computing device;

add, by the management service, the certificate request to the message queue;

receive, by the management service, a message retrieval request from the messenger connector of the at least one second computing device in data communication with the management service;

provide, by the management service, the certificate request to the at least one second computing device based on the message retrieval request;

remove, by the management service, the certificate request from the message queue;

receive, by the management service, the certificate from the at least one second computing device; and

provide, by the management service, the certificate to the client device.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the machine-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the first computing device to at least authenticate the client device.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the authentication credential comprises a pre-shared cryptographic key.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the authentication credential comprises a combination of a username and a password.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the credential identifier comprises an incremented numeric counter.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the credential identifier comprises a hash of the authentication credential.

Assignments (4)
PATENT ASSIGNMENT Recorded Aug 5, 2024
From: VMWARE LLC
To: OMNISSA, LLC
Reel/Frame 068327/0365 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jul 3, 2024
From: OMNISSA, LLC
To: UBS AG, STAMFORD BRANCH
Reel/Frame 068118/0004 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Apr 15, 2024
From: VMWARE, INC.
To: VMWARE LLC
Reel/Frame 067102/0314 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 2, 2019
From: LIDERMAN, EUGENE; PARWANI, RAHUL; ROHANKAR, KIRAN; ROBERTSON, KEITH
To: VMWARE, INC.
Reel/Frame 049060/0472 →