Internet Explorer, Flash Player, SSL, and X.509 authentication?

[letM3in2]

Are there any known issues with Internet Explorer, Flash Player, and the use of X.509 certificates for client authentication over SSL during cross-domain communication?

I am experiencing a cross-domain communication problem with a Flex 3 application, but only in Internet Explorer. I have been able to reproduce this problem using IE (6-8) and Flash Player (9-10). Firefox 3.6.x and Flash Player 10 work as expected. IE/Flash Player fails to communicate properly with the cross-domain server, resulting in application failure. It appears the client's X.509 certificate is not being presented to the cross-domain server properly.

Strangely, I can get the application to work in IE/Flash Player by doing the following:

Navigate to the SWF application on the web server (receive a connection error to the cross-domain server)
In the same browser tab, navigate to the root level of the cross-domain server (a standard web server welcome screen is displayed)
Return to the SWF application on the original web server and reload it (the Flex application loads successfully, cross-domain communication is successful)

[tadster]

Is it called directly by default? like, someserver\theswf.swf?
Or is it embedded into an html page?
If so, it may be how it is embedded into/with the html/javascript.
What are you using to embed the swf? swfobject?

[letM3in2]

tadster, thanks for the reply.

The flex application's swf is embeded in a html page. The wrapper html used to embed the swf is the standard flex project index.template.html file. Using IE, the application loads successfully, but I receive a connection error when it attempts to connect to the cross-domain (secondary) web server.

Some additional investigating has revealed that the connection is failing during the initial SSL handshake with the cross-domain web server.

[tadster]

You should try using swfobject, even Adobe recomends it over their default scripts for embedding.

[letM3in2]

OK, I'm willing to give anything a try a this point. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for the tip.

[letM3in2]

Unfortunately, swfobject had no effect on the error I receive. Any other ideas?

[tadster]

How did you use swfobject? Can you post the codes you are using to embed the swf?
Let's go over them in detail to try to see the problem.

I can tell you that 95% of the time when someone says "my app works in FF but not IE"
it's an issue with how the swf gets embedded.

And I especially think it's the case, in this case, because of your #1 work around.