Critical: .NET install domains and URLs are changing

[richlander]

.NET binaries and installers have moved to a new domain -- builds.dotnet.microsoft.com -- backed by a new Content Delivery Network (CDN). You may need to make changes to adjust.

Tracking issue: #9674

.NET Team Status:

• azureedge.net scream tests are starting
• See: Plan to disable azureedge.net domains #9676

Recommended action:

• Read Critical: .NET Install links are changing for an overview.
• Update azureedge.net references
• Update local copies of install script
• Update pinned references to actions/setup-dotnet
• Validate that firewall rules are resilient to using new domains.

Last update: 2025.01.23
Next update: 2025.02.04

Context

Some .NET binaries and installers have been hosted on Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN) domains that end in .azureedge.net. These domains were hosted by edg.io, which has ceased operations due to bankruptcy. We migrated to a new CDN and will be using new domains going forward.

We expectazureedge.net domains to cease by 5/31 (at latest).

.NET Team Remediation

New domains were created:

• builds.dotnet.microsoft.com for signed official builds
• ci.dot.net for unsigned builds

Test links for new CDN:

• https://builds.dotnet.microsoft.com/dotnet/health.txt
• https://builds.dotnet.microsoft.com/dotnet/release-metadata/releases-index.json

Test links for old CDN:

• https://dotnetcli.azureedge.net/dotnet/health.txt
• https://dotnetcli.azureedge.net/dotnet/release-metadata/releases-index.json

The following resources have been updated to use new domains.

• releases-index.json
• .NET install script
• actions/setup-dotnet
• CI short links

Other changes are in progress.

User Remediation

Please make the following replacements:

• dotnetcli.azureedge.net -> builds.dotnet.microsoft.com
• dotnetcli.blob.core.windows.net -> builds.dotnet.microsoft.com
• dotnetbuilds.azureedge.net -> ci.dot.net
• dotnetbuilds.blob.core.windows.net -> ci.dot.net

All the new domains are path-compatible with old domains, as they share the same origin.

Please also make the following changes:

• Update local copies of the install script
• Update setup-dotnet Action references
• Validate that firewall rules work with the new domains

Install script

The .NET install script is used to install .NET from our CDN. We are changing CDNs (documented in a following section), which requires us to change the install script to use the new CDN.

Updated scripts:

• https://dot.net/v1/dotnet-install.sh
• https://dot.net/v1/dotnet-install.ps1

Notes:

• Users who have local copies of these scripts will need to update their copies.
• Users who rely on the remote copy (at the URLs above) do not need to do anything other than validate no observed change in behavior (due to new domains and CDNs being used).

Tracking PRs:

• dotnet/install-scripts #554
• dotnet/install-scripts #555
• dotnet/install-scripts/issues #558
• dotnet/install-scripts #564
• dotnet/docs #44052

Official builds

Official builds and JSON files are hosted via a CDN, available for use by the install script and other installers.

• New: https://builds.dotnet.microsoft.com
• Old: https://dotnetcli.azureedge.net

Notes:

• Official builds are tested and signed by Microsoft. A microsoft.com domain was chosen to reflect that.
• We also plan to stop using dowload.visualstudio.microsoft.com for new content. That CDN will continue to function.
• Microsoft.Deployment.DotNet.Releases has been updated

You can change from old to new domains by changing the domain section of the URL. The other parts of the URL do not need to change.

Example URLs:

• New: https://builds.dotnet.microsoft.com/dotnet/Runtime/8.0.11/dotnet-runtime-8.0.11-linux-x64.tar.gz
• Old: https://dotnetcli.azureedge.net/dotnet/Runtime/8.0.11/dotnet-runtime-8.0.11-linux-x64.tar.gz
• New: https://builds.dotnet.microsoft.com/dotnet/release-metadata/releases-index.json
• Old: https://dotnetcli.azureedge.net/dotnet/release-metadata/releases-index.json

A set of short links are available for official builds.

Link pattern:https://aka.ms/dotnet/[x.y]/[package].

Example URLs:

• https://aka.ms/dotnet/9.0/dotnet-sdk-win-x64.zip
• https://aka.ms/dotnet/8.0/aspnetcore-runtime-linux-x64.tar.gz

These links produce301 HTTP results that forward to our CDN.

• Currently forward to: https://dotnetcli.azureedge.net.
• Will be changed to forward to: https://build.dotnet.microsoft.com.

We expect these links to be changed in mid January.

Tracking PR:

• dotnet/core #9683

CI builds

Continuous integration (CI) builds are hosted via a CDN, available via the install script and GitHub README files.

• New: https://ci.dot.net
• Old: https://dotnetbuilds.azureedge.net

Note: CI builds include a mix of tested and untested builds, signed and unsigned builds.

Example URLs:

• New: https://ci.dot.net/public/Runtime/9.0.1-servicing.24610.11/dotnet-runtime-9.0.1-win-x64.exe
• Old: https://dotnetbuilds.azureedge.net/public/Runtime/9.0.1-servicing.24610.11/dotnet-runtime-9.0.1-win-x64.exe

A set of short links are available for CI builds.

Link pattern:https://aka.ms/dotnet/[x.y]/daily/[package].

Example URLs:

• https://aka.ms/dotnet/9.0/daily/dotnet-runtime-win-x64.exe
• https://aka.ms/dotnet/9.0/daily/aspnetcore-runtime-linux-arm.tar.gz
• https://aka.ms/dotnet/10.0.1xx/daily/dotnet-sdk-osx-arm64.pkg

These links produce301 HTTP results that forward to our CDN.

• New builds now forward to: https://ci.dot.net
• Old builds forward to: https://dotnetbuilds.azureedge.net.

We expect these links to be changed in mid January.

Tracking PR:

• dotnet/core #9683

CI build pages use the CI short links.

Example build pages:

• dotnet/runtime
• dotnet/aspnetcore
• dotnet/sdk

Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions

• Major versions tags for actions/setup-dotnet have been updated. References to pinned versions will require updating to the most recent version.
• We expect that GitHub Enterprise Server will be addressed in January.
• Azure DevOps UseDotnetTask will be updated in January
• We do not yet have a date for updating Azure DevOps Server.

[KalleOlaviNiemitalo]

Is there a risk that a malicious party later acquires azureedge.net and starts serving malware to systems that still use the old URLs? From WHOIS, it looks like azureedge.net is registered to Microsoft, not to Edgio. (Just wondering how urgent it is to update URLs in old version-control branches that are not actively developed but might get built some day.)

Have there been any NuGet feeds in the domain?

[shanselman]

@KalleOlaviNiemitalo we took it over, so it won’t be taken away.

[zarlo]

@KalleOlaviNiemitalo we took it over, so it won’t be taken away.

so why not keep the current urls for like 1-2 more dont net versions so after .net 11 you have to use the new urls this would give people time to update their whitelists

[klemmchr]

Given this issue I'm wondering when Microsoft will provide their own domain registrar on Azure to prevent such issues in the future. Currently this is the only thing that is really missing on the Azure platform. I can host virtually anything on Azure but when it comes to domains I still need to resort to a third party. I can point all my nameservers to Azure, sure. But the domain itself needs to be hosted somewhere else.

[charles-Graham-Keilman]

Does this affect the installers in the Azure Devops pipelines? We use a mix of classic and Yaml pipelines.

[klemmchr]

Does this affect the installers in the Azure Devops pipelines? We use a mix of classic and Yaml pipelines.

Yes, it does.

Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions installation tools are dependent on some of these resources. We are working directly with those teams to maintain continuity of service. They are moving to the new domains at best speed.

[EatonZ]

Hi, I emailed [email protected] as instructed (twice), but never received a response. Is the inbox monitored?

I had asked this question - now posting here:

It appears that your new CDN does not utilize the Content-MD5 HTTP response header, which my software currently checks during updates to ensure the data was downloaded correctly. Any plans to add that header to the new CDN?

[richlander]

ACK. Will respond in the morning.

[richlander]

Looks like this information is available via a HEAD request. Is that OK?

$ curl -s --head https://builds.dotnet.microsoft.com/dotnet/WindowsDesktop/8.0.12/windowsdesktop-runtime-8.0.12-win-x64.zip
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
Content-MD5: dJZSYimxFoMXhyGvvmfWKA==
Last-Modified: Tue, 14 Jan 2025 18:04:37 GMT
ETag: 0x8DD34C5E9028595
x-ms-request-id: 410c4d19-601e-004b-024e-6c9933000000
x-ms-version: 2009-09-19
x-ms-lease-status: unlocked
x-ms-blob-type: BlockBlob
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2025 05:41:53 GMT
Connection: keep-alive
Content-Length: 36822832
Akamai-GRN: 0.0f0e2017.1737524513.56f37fbd

Separately, we're working on a separate proposal to expose .sha512 files right beside the binaries. We publish checksums today, but there are not convenient to retrieve. Would that help? As you likely know, MD5 is no longer recommended for this purpose.

Related: dotnet/docs#44425

[EatonZ]

Hi @richlander, thanks for the info!
I wouldn't want to do a HEAD request that info. For me, I just decided to use the MD5 hash since it was there and there was no harm in doing so. Just wanted to point out that it was missing on the new CDN in case it is a simple server-side change to add. Is that the case? Are you willing to add it for GET requests?

Of course, stronger hashes are welcome, and that hash file would be great to have!

[richlander]

I asked @rbhanda to talk to our CDN provides @EatonZ.

[richlander]

We plan to start scream tests on the old domains soon, per #9676.

[blowdart]

.NET security chiming in :)

Microsoft's internal policy has been, for years, to not use MD5 in new code or systems, and to deprecate it (and SHA1) everywhere else.

Whilst yes, it's part of the HTTP spec, it's not something I want to push for, the hash file route, with stronger hashes would be the preferred option for us, when it's delivered over HTTPS.

I'll leave it to @richlander to track that.

[richlander]

I am hoping to have a good hash file acquisition option in place soon. It will be SHA 512 which is a vastly superior option (as Barry mentions). As they say, friend don't let friends ...

[EatonZ]

@blowdart Totally understandable, thank you.

I'll discontinue my use of this header. @richlander let me know when there's any details about obtaining the new strong hashes.

[slonkak]

Sorry for this specific issue not being directly linked to .net, but Azure Labs uses the same azureedge.net domain for their icons. As of 2025-01-29 those icons are now broken. Do you have a way to correct this or will this not be fixed since Labs is being deprecated in 2027? (Side note: that is still 2 years away, please fix this)

[sageev]

@slonkak This will be fixed. The Azure Labs team is already working on this.

[slonkak]

Thank you for the speedy response!On Jan 30, 2025, at 5:13 PM, Stan Ageev ***@***.***> wrote: @slonkak This will be fixed. The Azure Labs team is already working on this. —Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>