WebOne as MSN Messenger gateway #40

atauenis · 2021-04-24T20:40:02Z

atauenis
Apr 24, 2021
Maintainer

Found that MSN Messenger 2.2 (WinME), 4.0 (WinXP), 4.6, 4.7 (WinXP SP2), 5.0, 7.0 and some other versions can use HTTP gateway if they can't connect to server directly.

With Escargot registry tweak they are working properly. Escargot's server is still accessible (with some small nuances), so gateways aren't used at all. However seems that theoretically that tweak is not really need, as we can use WebOne to work as the HTTP gateway:

;webone.conf
[Edit:^http://gateway.messenger.hotmail.com]
AddInternalRedirect=https://m1.escargot.chat/

So the connection to now-dead messenger.hotmail.com gateway should be do via WebOne, which is redirecting the connection to Escargot. Trying...

04.2021 23:25:43	WebOne 0.10.7.0 (Win32NT-64, Runtime 3.1.10) log started.
...
24.04.2021 23:25:49.352+5000	>POST http://gateway.messenger.hotmail.com/gateway/gateway.dll?Action=open&Server=NS&IP=messenger.hotmail.com (192.168.1.69)
24.04.2021 23:25:49.352+810046	 Fix to https://m1.escargot.chat/ internally
24.04.2021 23:25:49.352+845048	>Uploading 0K of application/x-msn-messenger...
24.04.2021 23:25:49.352+19081091	 200 OK. Body 0K of application/octet-stream [Binary].
24.04.2021 23:25:49.352+19096092	<Done.

All seems to be okay, but MSN saying that no MSN at all. :)

If try MSN 7.0, we're see 2 attempts to login, but same error. This is what MSN sends & receives (WebOne traffic dump):

POST request to http://m1.escargot.log1p.xyz/gateway/gateway.dll?Action=open&Server=NS&IP=messenger.hotmail.com HTTP/1.1
Proxy-Connection: Keep-Alive
Pragma: no-cache
Content-Length: 27
Content-Type: text/xml; charset=utf-8
Accept: */*
Host: m1.escargot.log1p.xyz
REAL-User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; MSN Messenger 7.0.0820)
SENT-User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; MSN Messenger 7.0.0820) WebOne/0.10.7.0
upgrade-insecure-requests: 1
sec-fetch-mode: navigate
sec-fetch-site: same-origin
sec-fetch-user: ?1
Body goes below. CAUTION: Private area!
VER 12 MSNP11 MSNP10 CVR0



Response 200 OK HTTP/1.0
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Access-Control-Expose-Headers: X-MSN-Messenger
Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2021 09:36:11 GMT
Server: Caddy, Python/3.6, aiohttp/2.3.3
X-Msn-Messenger: SessionID=4ebbd951-3cdf-43aa-9ac5-98fa52140bdc; GW-IP=messenger.hotmail.com
Via: HTTP/1.0 WebOne/0.10.7.0
Content-Type: application/x-msn-messenger
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Complete.

---------

POST request to http://m1.escargot.log1p.xyz/gateway/gateway.dll?Action=open&Server=NS&IP=messenger.hotmail.com HTTP/1.1
Proxy-Connection: Keep-Alive
Pragma: no-cache
Content-Length: 0
Accept: */*
Host: m1.escargot.log1p.xyz
REAL-User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; MSN Messenger 7.0.0820)
SENT-User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; MSN Messenger 7.0.0820) WebOne/0.10.7.0
upgrade-insecure-requests: 1
sec-fetch-mode: navigate
sec-fetch-site: same-origin
sec-fetch-user: ?1
No body.

Response 200 OK HTTP/1.0
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Access-Control-Expose-Headers: X-MSN-Messenger
Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2021 09:36:12 GMT
Server: Caddy, Python/3.6, aiohttp/2.3.3
X-Msn-Messenger: SessionID=c8eefb0d-037d-42ca-aa8e-51da63def664; GW-IP=messenger.hotmail.com
Via: HTTP/1.0 WebOne/0.10.7.0
Content-Type: application/x-msn-messenger
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Complete.

As I can think from this (note that I am used MSN almost first time in my life :) ), Messenger is sending its version to server, then gots an session ID, and nothing more. Sadly, but I don't know how log should be appear when the gateway.messenger.hotmail.com was worked. Probably it should send login command through this gateway, but somewhy it doesn't.

The MSN gateway support may be a good thing, because MSN Messenger 4.7+ on Win9x/XP/Vista don't like HTTPS configuration of Escargot servers, and a client patch is available only for or WinXP and newer. So a HTTP-gateway is a single way to connect from unpatched systems.

atauenis · 2021-05-04T10:43:08Z

atauenis
May 4, 2021
Maintainer Author

Read here an idea. Probably need to edit HTTP header about server location:

X-Msn-Messenger: SessionID=4ebbd951-3cdf-43aa-9ac5-98fa52140bdc; GW-IP=messenger.hotmail.com

to

X-Msn-Messenger: SessionID=4ebbd951-3cdf-43aa-9ac5-98fa52140bdc; GW-IP=m1.escargot.log1p.xyz
or
X-Msn-Messenger: SessionID=4ebbd951-3cdf-43aa-9ac5-98fa52140bdc; GW-IP=%ProxyHost%

Currently I haven't checked this, will check later.

The other probably reason why WebOne can't act as MSN gateway is that WebOne don't support Keep-Alive connections. It is closing the connection just after end of response data transfer. But I can't find anywhere if the MSN rely on HTTP 1.1 Keep-Alive or if it can work over HTTP 0.9/1.0 proxies like WebOne.

1 reply

atauenis Sep 4, 2022
Maintainer Author

Found an old article about MSNP-over-HTTP gatewaying, and seems that it have not requirement to Keep-Alive. But the header, however, actively used by MSN Messenger.
http://www.hypothetic.org/docs/msn/general/http_connections.php
http://www.hypothetic.org/docs/msn/general/http_examples.php

GW-IP parameter is not really important.

pixaline · 2021-05-27T01:57:30Z

pixaline
May 27, 2021

There is information about the gateway protocol here:
https://wiki.nina.chat/wiki/Protocols/MSNP/Gateway

And some general information of how MSN communicates:
https://wiki.nina.chat/wiki/Protocols/MSNP/Tweener
https://wiki.nina.chat/wiki/Protocols/MSNP/Commands/USR

I have been trying to get Messenger for Mac to work with both escargot and my own server.
So far it has failed because it expects SSL 2.0.

2 replies

atauenis May 27, 2021
Maintainer Author

I've asked on Escargot GitLab, and a developer answered that HTTP Gateway mode support in Escargot is not complete.
https://gitlab.com/escargot-chat/server/-/issues/113#note_566889096

Animadoria Jun 27, 2021

Hi, an actual Escargot developer here (that person is not a developer). It should be working properly, as far as I know.

Old SSL versions are not supported due to the (horrible) HTTP software we use (Caddy). It auto generated an HTTPS certificate that only allows TLSv1.0+.

(We're working on it, keep an eye out)

atauenis · 2022-09-04T18:48:33Z

atauenis
Sep 4, 2022
Maintainer Author

With WebOne v0.12.2 release, which added Keep-Alive support, MSN starts working!

The only is what need is the Edit Set in a WebOne configuration file. Call it msn.conf, for example:

[Edit:(^http://.*messenger\.hotmail.*\.com/)(.*)]
AddInternalRedirect=https://msnmsgr.escargot.chat/$2

Then set the WebOne address&port in MSN Messenger options:

And unpatched Windows Messenger 4.0 from Windows XP RTM connects to Escargot server.

0 replies

atauenis · 2023-09-14T20:08:52Z

atauenis
Sep 14, 2023
Maintainer Author

Good news again. In new 0.16 release there is enough well support of HTTPS proxying, including the CONNECT method used to access SSL/HTTPS servers through proxy servers. Previous WebOne releases ignored this method even without any messages in log.

Now even WLM 2009 is working through Escargot and WebOne. It is not required to use patched versions (however patched are also working). Original MSN/Live Messenger signed by Microsoft also can connect to Escargot servers when the proxy server is configured to redirect HTTPS. Here is the edit set, tested with original builds of MSN 3.6.0039, 6.2.0208 7.0.0820, 7.5.0324, WLM 8.1.0178, 8.5.1302, 14.0.8117:

; Windows Live Messenger - Escargot gateway configuration.
; Don't forget to import WebOne Root Certificate in Windows registry.

; 		Login
[Edit:^http://messenger.hotmail.com/(.*)]
AddInternalRedirect=https://msnmsgr.escargot.chat/$1

; 		Gateway
[Edit:^http://gateway.messenger.hotmail.com/(.*)]
AddInternalRedirect=https://msnmsgr.escargot.chat/$1

; MSN 5 - 7.0	Login
[Edit:(^http://nexus.passport.com/rdr/pprdr.asp)]
AddInternalRedirect=https://m1.escargot.chat/nexus-mock

; MSN 7.5	Login
[Edit:^http://loginnet.passport.com/(.*)]
AddInternalRedirect=https://msnmsgr.escargot.chat/$1

; MSN 8		Login
[Edit:^http://login.live.com/(.*)]
AddInternalRedirect=https://msnmsgr.escargot.chat/$1

; MSN 6+	configuration
[Edit:^http://config.messenger.msn.com/(.*)]
AddInternalRedirect=https://conf.escargot.chat/$1

; MSN 8+	contacts
[Edit:^http://byrdr.omega.contacts.msn.com/(.*)]
AddInternalRedirect=https://msnmsgr.escargot.chat/$1

; 		Offline messaging
[Edit:^http://ows.messenger.msn.com/(.*)]
AddInternalRedirect=https://msnmsgr.escargot.chat/$1
[Edit:^http://rsi.hotmail.com/(.*)]
AddInternalRedirect=https://msnmsgr.escargot.chat/$1

; MSN 8+	Windows Live Space
[Edit:^http://tkrdr.storage.msn.com/(.*)]
AddInternalRedirect=https://msnmsgr.escargot.chat/$1

; MSN 9+	What's New service
[Edit:^http://sup.live.com/(.*)]
AddInternalRedirect=https://msnmsgr.escargot.chat/$1

[Edit:http://login.live.com/login2.srf(.*)]
AddInternalRedirect=https://msnmsgr.escargot.chat/login

; MSN 7 (old Escargot patch)
[Edit:http://m1.escargot.chat/login]
AddInternalRedirect=https://msnmsgr.escargot.chat/login

[Edit:^http://status.messenger.msn.com/(.*)]
AddInternalRedirect=http://web.archive.org/web/20090212104204id_/http://status.messenger.msn.com/$1

Versions 4.7 of the Messenger and up are requiring Windows XP SP3 at this moment to work properly over WebOne. This is caused because they are using HTTPS to authorize, and WebOne is generating a SHA256 certificate for connection. SHA256 support was introduced only since Windows Vista RTM and XP SP3.

2 replies

Animadoria Sep 14, 2023

Note: these domains are deprecated and may not work in the future:

; MSN 8+	contacts
[Edit:^http://byrdr.omega.contacts.msn.com/(.*)]
AddInternalRedirect=https://ebyrdromegactcsmsn.log1p.xyz/$1

; 		Offline messaging
[Edit:^http://ows.messenger.msn.com/(.*)]
AddInternalRedirect=https://eowsmsgrmsn.log1p.xyz/$1
[Edit:^http://rsi.hotmail.com/(.*)]
AddInternalRedirect=https://ersih.log1p.xyz/$1

; MSN 8+	Windows Live Space
[Edit:^http://tkrdr.storage.msn.com/(.*)]
AddInternalRedirect=https://etkrdrstmsn.log1p.xyz/$1

Replace them with msnmsgr.escargot.chat/$1 for all cases.

atauenis Sep 15, 2023
Maintainer Author

Thanks. It was difficult to google actual URLs for them. Corrected.

Provide feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

WebOne as MSN Messenger gateway #40

{{title}}

{{editor}}'s edit

{{editor}}'s edit

Replies: 4 comments 5 replies

{{title}}

{{title}}

{{title}}

{{title}}

{{title}}

{{editor}}'s edit

{{editor}}'s edit

{{title}}

{{title}}

{{editor}}'s edit

{{editor}}'s edit

{{title}}

{{editor}}'s edit

{{editor}}'s edit

{{title}}

Select a reply

WebOne as MSN Messenger gateway #40

atauenis Apr 24, 2021 Maintainer

Replies: 4 comments · 5 replies

atauenis May 4, 2021 Maintainer Author

atauenis Sep 4, 2022 Maintainer Author

pixaline May 27, 2021

atauenis May 27, 2021 Maintainer Author

Animadoria Jun 27, 2021

atauenis Sep 4, 2022 Maintainer Author

atauenis Sep 14, 2023 Maintainer Author

Animadoria Sep 14, 2023

atauenis Sep 15, 2023 Maintainer Author

atauenis
Apr 24, 2021
Maintainer

Replies: 4 comments 5 replies

atauenis
May 4, 2021
Maintainer Author

atauenis Sep 4, 2022
Maintainer Author

pixaline
May 27, 2021

atauenis May 27, 2021
Maintainer Author

atauenis
Sep 4, 2022
Maintainer Author

atauenis
Sep 14, 2023
Maintainer Author

atauenis Sep 15, 2023
Maintainer Author