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  3. Configuring F5 Access Guard
Manual Chapter : Configuring F5 Access Guard

Applies To:

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BIG-IP APM

  • 17.1.0, 17.0.0, 16.1.5, 16.1.3, 16.1.2, 16.1.1, 16.1.0, 16.0.1, 16.0.0, 15.1.9, 15.1.8, 15.1.7, 15.1.6, 15.1.5, 15.1.4, 15.1.3, 15.1.2, 15.1.1, 15.1.0

BIG-IP FPS

  • 16.1.5, 16.1.4
Manual Chapter

Configuring F5 Access Guard

What is F5 Access Guard?

F5 Access Guard is a new set of client software tools designed to help administrators validate the security posture of incoming web connections from remote desktop clients. F5 Access Guard allows real-time posture information to be inspected with per-request policy subroutines on BIG-IP Access Policy Manager. F5 Access Guard generates posture information asynchronously and transparently transmits it to chosen APM server endpoints using special HTTP headers.
F5 Access Guard requires several components:
  1. A system service, F5AccessGuardService, for Windows and macOS desktop clients
  2. A browser extension, F5 Access Guard, and associated native messaging app for Firefox and Chrome
  3. An XML configuration file that must be created and deployed to client endpoints
APM has included posture checking capability since its inception, and this new service improves upon this capability by allowing for instantaneous and continuous checks. Deployment of F5 Access Guard is significantly different than previous posture check implementations.

Overview of the F5 Access Guard Configuration

  1. Install the certificate bundle on the BIG-IP.
  2. Push the service to Windows or macOS endpoints.
  3. Install certificates on the endpoints.
  4. Configure the service with an XML configuration file (also pushed to endpoints). This file specifies the servers, keyfile and certificate, and the system checks that the browser extension will pass to the server. Refer to the Configuration Schema and example configuration files for Windows or macOS.
  5. Install the browser extension on Firefox or Chrome, either manually or automatically.
  6. Test the configuration. The recommended method to test the configuration is to create a simple configuration with Access Guided Configuration, and check that the client can access a server through the specified checks.
  7. Troubleshoot the configuration, if any problems occur.

Create and install the certificate bundle on the BIG-IP system

To create and install the certificate bundle, you should have generated and have access to the root and intermediate certificate.
  1. In the BIG-IP admin UI, click
    System
    Certificate Management
    Traffic Certificate Management
    .
  2. Click
    Import
     and from the
    Import Type
     list, select
    Certificate
    .
  3. Type the
    Certificate Name
    .
  4. Select
    Paste Text
     from the
    Certificate Source
     section and a text area will appear.
  5. Copy the intermediate CA PEM certificate and paste it in the text area.
  6. Copy the root CA PEM and paste it on the next line after the intermediate CA PEM's trailer.
  7. Click
    Import
    .

Install the F5 Access Guard service

Install the service

The F5 Access Guard ISO installer is available in your account on downloads.f5.com. Download the zipped installer and extract the files. The installer includes two files:
  • F5AccessGuardService.msi
     - The Windows installer for the F5 Access Guard service.
  • F5AccessGuardService.pkg
     - The macOS installer for F5 Access Guard.
Install the F5AccessGuardService.msi on Windows or F5AccessGuardService.pkg on macOS.
The software check library must be installed separately to use any software checks. To install the library automatically, specify the
<Update> <Software>
 URL in the XML configuration file. See the
Update Oesis Inspectors
 section for more details.

Note for macOS clients

To check the version of the F5AccessGuardService:
    pkgutil --file-info /Library/F5Networks/F5AccessGuardService/F5AccessGuardService
    volume: /
    path: ./Library/F5Networks/F5AccessGuardService/F5AccessGuardService

    pkgid: com.f5.accessguard
    pkg-version: 1.0.0.0
    install-time: 1556945003
    uid: 0
    gid: 0
    mode: 755
F5AccessGuardService, F5AccessGuardNativeMessaging and OesisInstaller provide
--version
 command-line option:
    /Library/F5Networks/F5AccessGuardService/F5AccessGuardService --version
    /Library/F5Networks/F5AccessGuardService/F5AccessGuardNativeMessaging --version
    /Library/F5Networks/F5AccessGuardService/OesisInstaller --version

    F5AccessGuardService 1.0.0.0
    F5AccessGuardNativeMessaging 1.0.0.0
    OesisInstaller 1.0.0.0
To uninstall F5AccessGuardService:
sudo /Library/F5Networks/F5AccessGuardService/F5AccessGuardServiceUninstall.sh

Install certificates

Install certificates

Certificates created for use with the F5 Zero Trust Identity Aware Proxy must include the
Secure Mail
 or
Secure Email
 (S/MIME) field as a certificate purpose.
  • Create the certificates using your desired certificate generator. You must create and deploy unique certificates to each endpoint. You can generate the certificates with ActiveDirectory, OpenSSL, or another tool.
  • It is not recommended that keys be stored in plain text on the client devices.
  • The CA certificates used to sign the client certificates must be imported to APM.

Windows

  • It is recommended that you deploy the certificate/key pair to CAPI on Windows clients.
  • On Windows, the import location of the certificate/key pair can be configured using the
    F5AccessGuardServiceConfig.xml
    .
  • If the certificate/key pair is to be imported to the
    F5AccessGuardService
     store, you must install the
    F5AccessGuardService
     first.

macOS

  • We recommend that you deploy the certificate/key pair to the System Keychain on macOS clients.
  • Import the certificate/key pair to
    System.keychain
     (the
    /Library/Keychains/System.keychain
    file).
  • Before deploying the certificate/key pair to the System keychain, the
    F5AccessGuardService
     must be installed.
  • The
    F5AccessGuardService
     daemon requires explicit allow permissions to the key in
    System.keychain
     because the System keychain is locked. Because the
    F5AccessGuardService
     is running as a daemon, there are no user interface prompts to unlock the keychain. If you do not allow access to the application, signing for system health data will fail without any notifications.

Allow access to F5AccessGuardService while importing the .pfx/.p12 file to the System keychain

sudo security import <_path to .p12/.pfx file_> -P <_.p12/.pfx file password_> -f pkcs12 -T /Library/F5Networks/F5AccessGuardService/F5AccessGuardService -k /Library/Keychains/System.keychain
This command imports the .p12/.pfx file to the
/Library/Keychains/System.keychain
 and allows permission to
/Library/F5Networks/F5AccessGuardService/F5AccessGuardService
 to access it. For this to be effective, the service must be installed first.

Allow access to the F5AccessGuardService binary using the Keychain Access app

  1. Open the Keychain Access app and highlight the System keychain. Select the Certificates category.
  2. Expand the keychain item for the certificate that was imported. Upon expanding, you will see the key associated with the certificate.
  3. Double click on the key item and on the info window, select the Access Control tab.
  4. Click the plus symbol (
    +
    ) and navigate to
    /Library/F5Networks/F5AccessGuardService
    , then select
    F5AccessGuardService
    .
If F5 Access Guard was previously installed, then the key's ACL may already contain the F5AccessGuardService entry. This existing entry must be explicitly removed by selecting it and clicking the minus (
-
) symbol. Access will then be allowed as listed in the task above.
After updating or changing the
F5AccessGuardService
 binary (through auto-update or other means), access to the new
/Library/F5Networks/F5AccessGuardService/F5AccessGuardService
 binary must be explicitly allowed for the imported keychain item. Otherwise, the service can not unlock the keychain. Because the service is running as a daemon, no UI is shown and the certificate signing will fail silently.
To avoid this, you can either delete the old identity keychain item and import a new one using the
security
 commandline utility or you can update the existing keychain item to allow access to the F5AccessGuardService binary using the
Keychain Access
 app.
Restart the F5AccessGuardService daemon needs after this to use the updated identity. To restart the daemon, use the
launchctl
 command-line utility.

Configure the service

You configure the service with an XML configuration file. Use the following reference to create and configure the file.
The XML configuration file is not created automatically, and must be manually created. Any modifications to the file will be automatically loaded by the service.
Item
Details
File Format
XML
Location and filename on Windows
%ProgramData%\F5 Networks\F5AccessGuardService\F5AccessGuardServiceConfig.xml
Location and filename on macOS
/Library/Application Support/F5Networks/F5AccessGuardService/F5AccessGuardServiceConfig.xml
File permissions
Read only (recommended)

Configuration File Schema Elements

This table lists the XML tags, values, descriptions, and default values.
Tag
Has Children
Parent Tag
Description and Notes
Default
SystemHealthConfig
Yes
N/A
XML for all other configuration elements. Root of all configuration.
Version
No
SystemHealthConfig
Version of configuration. Specifies the version of the configuration. 1.0 for this release. Any other version would result in an error.
1.0
LogLevel
No
SystemHealthConfig
Different levels to filter out logs for troubleshooting. Possible values:
trace
,
info
,
warning
,
error
 and
critical
;
trace
 being the most verbose (mostly for troubleshooting) to
critical
 being least. Specify
trace
 to get the browser extension logs in the native messaging host logs.
Default level is
info
.
Update
Yes
SystemHealthConfig
XML for update related configuration elements
None
Software
No
Update
Software check library auto-update URI. The value specifies the location for software check (OesisInspector.cab) updates. This should include the absolute URI path to the update. For example, for a BIG-IP server, the address might be
https://virtual_server_address/public/download
. For a non-BIG-IP server, it might be
https://server_address/opswat_package
.
None
Signing
Yes
SystemHealthConfig
XML for signing related configuration elements. Specify the attribute
disabled
 set to
true
 to disable signing of posture information, and allow unsigned posture data.
By default, signing of posture data is enabled. The Signing tag is required.
CAPI
Yes
Signing
Specifies that the cert/key be loaded from the CAPI store for Windows and from the keychain on macOS. If present, keys and cert are loaded from the CAPI store for F5AccessGuardService for Windows and from the System.keychain (keychain) on macOS.
Subject
No
CAPI
Signing Common Name (from Subject Name or Subject Alternative Name DirectoryName) pattern. It is a pattern (wildcards allowed) that will be matched against subject common name or subject alternative DirectoryName for the certificate.
Issuer
No
CAPI
Common Name (from Subject Name of the Issuer) pattern. It is a pattern (wildcards allowed) that will be matched against subject common name of the issuer of the certificate.
Store
No
CAPI
Windows certificate store name (applies only on Windows). On macOS this value is ignored. The attribute
type
 specifies the certificate store location.
A missing or empty
Store
 tag or
type
 attribute defaults to
MY
 and
system
 respectively.
Certfile
No
Signing
Location of the signing certificate file. Ignored if CAPI tag is specified. An absolute path is required.
KeyFile
No
Signing
Location of the signing key file. Ignored if CAPI tag is specified. An absolute path is required.
Config
Yes
SystemHealthConfig
General configuration settings.
Servers
No
Config
Match patterns for URLs to which the health information is sent via the HTTP header. Allowed pattern syntax:
<scheme>://<host>/<path\>
 where
scheme
 can be
http
,
https
 or
*
,
host
 can be
*
 or
*.<any alphanumeric character sequence>
 and
path
 can be URI path or
*
.
None
CheckInterval
No
Config
Sleep interval between checks in seconds.
1800 (30 Minutes)
SignInterval
No
Config
Sleep interval between signing the health data in seconds.
900 (15 Minutes)
Checks
Yes
SystemHealthConfig
XML for all configured checks.
None
Software
No
Checks
Value is empty. Attribute
type
 specifies the type of software that needs to be checked.
None
Process
No
Checks
Value is empty. Attribute
name
 specifies the name of process that needs to be checked.
None
File
No
Checks
Value is empty. The attribute
name
 specifies the name of file that needs to be checked. The optional attribute
hash
 can be used to specify a hash algorithm.
None
DomainName
No
Checks
Collects the Domain Name. This value is empty.
None

Configure software checks

Use the
software
 attribute
type
 to specify the types of software on the client for which information will be collected and presented to the server for continuous client checks.
Note
: You need only specify the type of data to collect, not the specific software packages.
Type
Description
av
Specifies that antivirus software information is relayed to the server. This attribute is required if you want to check the antivirus software state with the Antivirus check in a per-request policy subsession.
fw
Specifies that firewall software information is relayed to the server. This attribute is required if you want to check the firewall software state with the Firewall check in a per-request policy subsession.
ha
Specifies that health agent software information is relayed to the server. This attribute is required if you want to check the health agent information with the System Health check in a per-request policy subsession.
hd
Specifies that software hard disk encryption information is relayed to the server. This attribute is required if you want to check the hard disk encryption software state with the Hard Disk Encryption check in a per-request policy subsession.
pm
Specifies that software patch management information is relayed to the server. This attribute is required if you want to check the patch management software state with the Patch Management check in a per-request policy subsession.
p2p
Specifies that peer to peer sharing software information is relayed to the server. This attribute is required if you want to check the peer-to-peer software state with the Public File Sharing check in a per-request policy subsession.

Configure file checks

Use the
hash
 attribute to calculate the hash of the file. By default, no hash is calculated.
Supported hash algorithms:
  • md5
  • sha256
  • sha384
  • sha512

Update Oesis inspectors

Oesis inspectors can be automatically updated on BIG-IP 14.1 or newer.
The Oesis inspectors are loaded dynamically on the client. However, signature verification is only performed on the Oesis software library the first time it is installed, not every time it is loaded. The library is installed in a location that is only accessible to a privileged OS process. Endpoint status information is communicated by a privileged process to Access Policy Manager through request headers. This data is, however, accessible to a user mode process on the client endpoint, where it is not encrypted. As a result, a user mode application on an endpoint machine can pretend to be the Native Messaging app and query the health check statement from the privileged process. This data does not include any regulated information, and is considered an acceptable risk.
To configure automatic updates add the following to the service configuraton file:
  <Update>
    <Software>https://my.server.org/public/download/</Software>
  </Update>
Replace
my.server.org
 with the address of your BIG-IP APM virtual server.

Hosting the Oesis inspectors update on external server

  1. Update the client configuration with the proper URI: 
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<SystemHealthConfig>
  <Version>1.0</Version>
  <Update>
    <Software>https://some.server.com/location/</Software>
  </Update>
  ...
  2. Upload the following files from BIG-IP to your https server: 
    public/download/OesisInspector.cab
public/download/OesisInspector.cab.ver
public/download/mac_oesisInspector.tar.ver
public/download/mac_oesisInspector.tar.md5
public/download/mac_oesisInspector.tar
    You have to repeat this step with each update to these files.

Certificate store types for Windows

Use the
store
 attribute
type
 to specify the certificate store location.
Type
System Store Location
service
CERT_SYSTEM_STORE_SERVICES
 and service is
F5AccessGuardService
system
CERT_SYSTEM_STORE_LOCAL_MACHINE

Configuration file schema

This topic gives an example of a configuration file schema. 
<xs:schema attributeFormDefault="unqualified" elementFormDefault="qualified"
  xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <xs:element name="SystemHealthConfig">
    <xs:complexType>
      <xs:sequence>
        <xs:element name="Version">
          <xs:simpleType>
            <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
              <xs:enumeration value="1.0"/>
            </xs:restriction>
          </xs:simpleType>
        </xs:element>
        <xs:element name="LogLevel" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1">
          <xs:simpleType>
            <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
              <xs:enumeration value="trace"/>
              <xs:enumeration value="info"/>
              <xs:enumeration value="warning"/>
              <xs:enumeration value="error"/>
              <xs:enumeration value="critical"/>
            </xs:restriction>
          </xs:simpleType>
        </xs:element>
        <xs:element name="Update" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1">
          <xs:complexType>
            <xs:sequence>
              <xs:element type="xs:anyURI" name="Software"/>
            </xs:sequence>
          </xs:complexType>
        </xs:element>
        <xs:element name="Signing">
          <xs:complexType>
            <xs:sequence>
              <xs:element name="CAPI" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1">
                <xs:complexType>
                  <xs:sequence>
                    <xs:choice minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="2">
                      <xs:element type="xs:string" name="Subject"/>
                      <xs:element type="xs:string" name="Issuer"/>
                    </xs:choice>
                    <xs:element name="Store">
                      <xs:complexType>
                        <xs:simpleContent>
                          <xs:extension base="xs:string">
                            <xs:attribute name="type">
                              <xs:simpleType>
                                <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
                                  <xs:enumeration value="system"/>
                                  <xs:enumeration value="service"/>
                                </xs:restriction>
                              </xs:simpleType>
                            </xs:attribute>
                          </xs:extension>
                        </xs:simpleContent>
                      </xs:complexType>
                    </xs:element>
                  </xs:sequence>
                </xs:complexType>
              </xs:element>
              <xs:element type="xs:string" name="CertFile" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
              <xs:element type="xs:string" name="KeyFile" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
            </xs:sequence>
          </xs:complexType>
        </xs:element>
        <xs:element name="Config">
          <xs:complexType>
            <xs:sequence>
              <xs:element type="xs:string" name="Servers"/>
              <xs:element name="CheckInterval">
                <xs:simpleType>
                  <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
                    <xs:minInclusive value="0"/>
                  </xs:restriction>
                </xs:simpleType>
              </xs:element>
              <xs:element name="SignInterval">
                <xs:simpleType>
                  <xs:restriction base="xs:integer">
                    <xs:minInclusive value="0"/>
                  </xs:restriction>
                </xs:simpleType>
              </xs:element>
            </xs:sequence>
          </xs:complexType>
        </xs:element>
        <xs:element name="Checks">
          <xs:complexType>
            <xs:sequence>
              <xs:element name="Software" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="15">
                <xs:complexType>
                  <xs:attribute name="type">
                    <xs:simpleType>
                      <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
                        <xs:enumeration value="av"/>
                        <xs:enumeration value="fw"/>
                        <xs:enumeration value="hd"/>
                        <xs:enumeration value="pm"/>
                        <xs:enumeration value="ha"/>
                        <xs:enumeration value="p2p"/>
                      </xs:restriction>
                    </xs:simpleType>
                  </xs:attribute>
                </xs:complexType>
              </xs:element>
              <xs:element name="Process" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="15">
                <xs:complexType>
                  <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" />
                </xs:complexType>
              </xs:element>
              <xs:element name="File" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="15">
                <xs:complexType>
                  <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" />
                  <xs:attribute name="hash">
                    <xs:simpleType>
                      <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
                        <xs:enumeration value="md5"/>
                        <xs:enumeration value="sha256"/>
                        <xs:enumeration value="sha384"/>
                        <xs:enumeration value="sha512"/>
                      </xs:restriction>
                    </xs:simpleType>
                  </xs:attribute>
                </xs:complexType>
              </xs:element>
            </xs:sequence>
          </xs:complexType>
        </xs:element>
      </xs:sequence>
    </xs:complexType>
  </xs:element>
</xs:schema>

Configuration file example for macOS

This topic gives an example of a configuration file for macOS. 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
 <SystemHealthConfig>
 <Version>1.0</Version>
 <Update>
 	<Software>https://your.server.org/public/download</Software>
 </Update>
 <Signing>
    <CAPI>
        <Subject>*.f5.com</Subject>
        <Issuer>CA Intermediate *</Issuer>
    </CAPI>
 </Signing>
 <Config>
 	<Servers>*://server.example.com/*,*://*.domain.com/*</Servers>
	<CheckInterval>3600</CheckInterval>
	<SignInterval>1800</SignInterval>
 </Config>
 <Checks>
 	<Software type="av"/>
 	<Software type="fw"/>
 	<File name="/usr/bin/python" hash="sha256"/>
 	<Process name="Terminal"/>
 </Checks>
 </SystemHealthConfig>

Configuration file example for Windows

This topic gives an example of a configuration file for Windows. 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
 <SystemHealthConfig>
 <Version>1.0</Version>
 <Update>
 	<Software>https://your.server.org/public/download</Software>
 </Update>
 <Signing>
    <CAPI>
        <Subject>*.f5.com</Subject>
        <Issuer>CA Intermediate *</Issuer>
        <Store type="system">AccessGuard</Store>
    </CAPI>
 </Signing>
 <Config>
 	<Servers>*://server.example.com/*,*://*.domain.com/*</Servers>
	<CheckInterval>3600</CheckInterval>
	<SignInterval>1800</SignInterval>
 </Config>
 <Checks>
 	<Software type="av"/>
 	<Software type="fw"/>
 	<File name="C:\file.txt" hash="md5"/>
 	<File name="C:\file2.txt" hash="sha512"/>
 	<Process name="cmd.exe"/>
 </Checks>
 </SystemHealthConfig>

Install the browser extension

A browser extension is required. This browser extension is available for Firefox and Chrome browsers. The extension obtains the posture results via Native Messaging for the browser from the F5 Access Guard Native Messaging app. See Chrome native messaging and Firefox native messaging information for more details.

Manual installation for Chrome

Manual installation for Firefox

  2. Click
    Add to Firefox
    .

Automatic installation for Chrome

Use the instructions provided by Google to Automatically install apps and extensions.

Automatic installation for Firefox

Uses the instructions provided by Mozilla for Deploying Firefox with extensions.

Create and test a configuration

Using Access Guided Configuration, create a test configuration.
As a prerequisite, you should have configured clients using the information in this document. You must also have a server to which you can test access, and the IP address to that server.

Creating a test configuration

  1. On the BIG-IP system, go to
    Access
    Guided Configuration
    .
  2. Click
    Zero Trust
    .
  3. Click
    Identity Aware Proxy
    .
  4. Click
    Next
    .
  5. Type a
    Configuration Name
    .
  6. Select the
    Enable F5 Posture Check
     box.
  7. For the
    CA Trust Certificate
    , select the CA bundle you uploaded to the BIG-IP previously.
  8. In the
    Posture Settings
     area, click
    Add
    .
  9. In the
    Name
     box, type a name for the posture check.
  10. In the Platforms area, select the browsers you want to support for Windows and macOS, and select the checks you want to run. Note that these checks should be the same checks that you specified to send from the browsers in the Configuration file. See
    Configure the service
     for more information.
  11. Click
    Done
    , then click
    Save & Next
    .
  12. Specify the virtual server
    Destination Address
    .
  13. Click
    Save & Next
    .
  14. Specify the
    Authentication Properties
    , based on your configuration.
  15. Click
    Save
    , then click
    Save & Next
    .
  16. Enable and configure Multi-factor authentication, if required, then click
    Save & Next
    .
  17. Enable and configure Single Sign-On, if required, then click
    Save & Next
    .
  18. To add an Application, configure the name, FQDN, and Pool Configuration for the application.
  19. To add subpaths, health monitors, change the load balancing method, or add pool members, click
    Show Advanced Setting
    .
  20. Click
    Save
    , then click
    Save & Next
    .
  21. To add one or more application groups, click Enable Application Groups, then configure the application groups.
  22. Click
    Save & Next
    .
  23. On the Contextual Access Properties screen, configure the Resource Type (Application or Application Group), the Resource, the Posture to use, and the Primary Authentication method.
  24. If you want to enable step-up authentication based on triggers such as the HTTP method, geographic location, or IP reputation, click Enable Step Up Authentication, and configure the settings.
  25. Click
    Save
    , then click
    Save & Next
    .
  26. Configure Customization messages, if required.
  27. Click
    Save & Next
    .
  28. Click
    Deploy
     to deploy the Zero Trust Identity Aware Proxy configuration.
To test the configuration, attempt to make a connection from a client machine you have configured to the server or application you specified.

Troubleshoot the configuration

Troubleshooting

  • The system time on the BIG-IP and on the client must be in sync. If the system time on the client is ahead by ~5 minutes, any access policies will fail.
  • There may be a delay when a configuration file is created or changed for the configuration to take effect. To enforce the configuration immediately, you can restart the service.
  • Specify
    LogLevel
     in the configuration file to get more or less verbose logging. Possible values:
    trace
    ,
    info
    ,
    warning
    ,
    error
     and
    critical
    ;
    trace
     is the most verbose (mostly for troubleshooting) and
    critical
     is the least.
    Specify
    trace
     to get the browser extension logs in the native messaging host logs.
    The default level is
    info
    .
  • Examine logs on the client, generated by the service and the native messaging host. If the native messaging host logs are missing, make sure the browser is launching it properly.
    On Windows, the service logs are located at:
    %WINDIR%/temp/F5AccessGuardService.log
    On macOS, the service logs are located at:
    /Library/Logs/F5Networks/F5AccessGuardService.log
    On Windows, the native messaging host logs are located at:
    %TEMP%\F5AccessGuardNativeMessaging.log where %TEMP% is user temp folder.
    On macOS, the native messaging host logs are located at:
    ~/Library/Logs/F5Networks/F5AccessGuardNativeMessaging.log
    The log files may have numbers appended for rotation purposes.
  • The client injects special HTTP headers in web requests made to URLs that match the pattern specified in
    <Servers>
    . To view the data sent via the HTTP header, enable
    trace
     logging and view the service log file. The data can also be viewed in the
    F5 Access Guard
     browser extension's console in Chrome or Firefox. The data logged in the extension's console is without the CMS header and trailer.

Base64 encoded CMS signed data

-----BEGIN CMS-----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-----END CMS-----
To check the contents of the above base64 encoded data, copy the data into a file and use the following command:
openssl asn1parse -in <file path> -inform pem
To verify the signature of the signed data against the cert bundle with intermediate CA and root CA, run the following commands:
cat intermediate.crt root.crt > bundle.pem
openssl cms -verify -in <file path> -out signeddata.txt -inform PEM -CAfile bundle.pem
cat signeddata.txt
signeddata.txt
 will include the plain text data that was signed.

Unsigned posture data (not recommended)

You can disable signing of posture information by specifying the Signing tag with the attribute
disabled
 set to
true
, as in this example.
<Signing disabled="true">
Be default, signing is enabled. You must specifically disable signing to allow unsigned data.
Support for this feature is available only in the upcoming BIG-IP 15.1 or later.
Unsigned data is prefixed with
_01_
, followed by the base64-encoded plain text data for the posture. For example:
_01_ZXBzLmRhdGEudmFsaWRpdHk9NjAmdmVyc2lvbj0xLjAmcGxhdGZvcm09V2luJnN3LmN
 oZWNrLnRpbWU9MTU1OTE2NjE1NCZzdy5mdy4xLmlkPTI4MyZzdy5mdy4xLm5hbWU9V2luZG
 93cyUyMEZpcmV3YWxsJnN3LmZ3LjEuc2lnbmF0dXJlPTI4OCZzdy5mdy4xLnN0YXRlPTAmc
 3cuZncuMS52ZW5kb3JfaWQ9OTAmc3cuZncuMS52ZW5kb3JfbmFtZT1NaWNyb3NvZnQlMjBD
 b3Jwb3JhdGlvbiZzdy5mdy4xLnZlcnNpb249MTAlMmUwJTJlMTcxMzQlMmUxJnN3LmZ3LmN
 vdW50PTEmc3cuZncuZW5naW5lPTQuMy41MTIuMCZzdy5mdy5zZGs9NC4zLjUxMi4wJnN3Lm
 F2LjEuZGJfbmFtZT1NaWNyb3NvZnQlMjBBbnRpdmlydXMmc3cuYXYuMS5kYl90aW1lPTE1N
 TkxNTIwMDcmc3cuYXYuMS5kYl92ZXJzaW9uPTElMmUyOTMlMmUyNTE1JTJlMCZzdy5hdi4x
 LmVuZ2luZV92ZXJzaW9uPTElMmUxJTJlMTU5MDAlMmU0JnN3LmF2LjEuaWQ9MzYyJnN3LmF
 2LjEubGFzdF9zY2FuPTAmc3cuYXYuMS5uYW1lPVdpbmRvd3MlMjBEZWZlbmRlciZzdy5hdi
 4xLnNpZ25hdHVyZT00Nzcmc3cuYXYuMS5zdGF0ZT0xJnN3LmF2LjEudmVuZG9yX2lkPTkwJ
 nN3LmF2LjEudmVuZG9yX25hbWU9TWljcm9zb2Z0JTIwQ29ycG9yYXRpb24mc3cuYXYuMS52
 ZXJzaW9uPTQlMmUxMyUyZTE3MTM0JTJlMSZzdy5hdi5jb3VudD0xJnN3LmF2LmVuZ2luZT0
 0LjMuNTEyLjAmc3cuYXYuc2RrPTQuMy41MTIuMCZmaWxlLmNvdW50PTImZmlsZS4xLm5hbW
 U9QyUzQSU1Q2ZpbGUlMkV0eHQmZmlsZS4xLmV4aXN0cz0wJmZpbGUuMi5uYW1lPUMlM0ElN
 UNmaWxlMiUyRXR4dCZmaWxlLjIuZXhpc3RzPTAmcHJvY2Vzcy5jb3VudD0xJnByb2Nlc3Mu
 MS5uYW1lPWNtZCUyRWV4ZSZwcm9jZXNzLjEucnVuPTA=
This signature data can be base64-decoded, after removing the
_01_
 prefix. For example:
eps.data.validity=60&version=1.0&platform=Win&sw.check.time=1559166154
&sw.fw.1.id=283&sw.fw.1.name=Windows%20Firewall&sw.fw.1.signature=288
&sw.fw.1.state=0&sw.fw.1.vendor_id=90&sw.fw.1.vendor_name=Microsoft%20Corporation
&sw.fw.1.version=10%2e0%2e17134%2e1&sw.fw.count=1&sw.fw.engine=4.3.512.0
&sw.fw.sdk=4.3.512.0&sw.av.1.db_name=Microsoft%20Antivirus&sw.av.1.db_time=1559152007
&sw.av.1.db_version=1%2e293%2e2515%2e0&sw.av.1.engine_version=1%2e1%2e15900%2e4
&sw.av.1.id=362&sw.av.1.last_scan=0&sw.av.1.name=Windows%20Defender&sw.av.1.signature=477
&sw.av.1.state=1&sw.av.1.vendor_id=90&sw.av.1.vendor_name=Microsoft%20Corporation
&sw.av.1.version=4%2e13%2e17134%2e1&sw.av.count=1&sw.av.engine=4.3.512.0&sw.av.sdk=4.3.512.0
&file.count=2&file.1.name=C%3A%5Cfile%2Etxt&file.1.exists=0&file.2.name=C%3A%5Cfile2%2Etxt
&file.2.exists=0&process.count=1&process.1.name=cmd%2Eexe&process.1.run=0
sw.check.time
 specifies the time when the checks were performed and the name-value pair string was formed. This is specified in seconds (Unix Epoch Time). This is for debugging purposes only and serves no functional purpose.
When working with unsigned posture data, the server uses the arrival time of the posture data on the server to determine posture validity.
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