Some time ago I published the first version of ISV License Generator to help us generate a license for a Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations ISV solution, using a CSP cryptographic USB token instead of a software certificate.
With the new ISV License Generator version 0.2 I’ve implemented support for SHA-2/SHA-256 while keeping support for SHA-1 until it’s deprecated.
You can download ISV License Generator v0.2 (read below for version 0.3!) and contribute or check the code in Github.
Please, if anybody has used the generator let me know in the comments or ping me on Twitter @adria_ariste. I’d just like to know 😛
SHA-1 deprecation
The reason behind adding support for the SHA256 algorithm is that signing the licenses with SHA1 will be deprecated during early 2021 due to the algorithm becoming less secure over time because of the weaknesses found in it, increased processor performance, and the advent of cloud computing.
Because of these weaknesses the recommendation is to stop using the SHA-1 algorithm, and actually it’s already not being used in many, not only Dynamics 365, and this change will also impact the AXUtil tool we use to generate the licenses from the command line. Microsoft already did the necessary changes to the AXUtilLib library to support it and I’ve just applied those changes to my version of the library.
The deprecation of SHA-1 is also affecting another field of Finance and Operations: the dimension framework. Read this blog post for more info: Verify hash function changes after update to Dynamics 365 Finance 2020 release wave 2.
Migrated to .NET Core 3.1
The ISV License Generator tool has been migrated to .NET Core 3.1. I’ve just had to make minor changes and now, in theory, the custom AXUtilLib library could be used in an app for Linux or MacOS.
You can download ISV License Generator v0.3 here.
