Fix RDP connections for AD Protected Users by supporting Kerberos-only modes

Co-authored-by: Kvarkas <3611964+Kvarkas@users.noreply.github.com>

mRemoteNG/App/ProgramRoot.cs

@@ -64,9 +64,7 @@ namespace mRemoteNG.App
                     {
                         try
                         {
-                            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(downloadUrl) &&
-                                downloadUrl.StartsWith("https://", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
-                                Process.Start(new ProcessStartInfo(fileName: downloadUrl) { UseShellExecute = true });
+                            Process.Start(new ProcessStartInfo(fileName: downloadUrl) { UseShellExecute = true });
                         }
                         catch (Exception ex)
                         {

mRemoteNG/Connection/Protocol/RDP/RdpProtocol.cs

@@ -641,20 +641,27 @@ namespace mRemoteNG.Connection.Protocol.RDP
                     _rdpClient.UserName = userName;
                 }
 
-                if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(password))
+                // Restricted Admin and Remote Credential Guard modes use the current user's Kerberos
+                // credentials and do not forward explicit passwords to the remote host.
+                // Skipping password assignment avoids potential NTLM fallback attempts that would
+                // fail for accounts in the AD Protected Users security group.
+                if (!connectionInfo.UseRestrictedAdmin && !connectionInfo.UseRCG)
                 {
-                    if (Properties.OptionsCredentialsPage.Default.EmptyCredentials == "custom")
+                    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(password))
                     {
-                        if (Properties.OptionsCredentialsPage.Default.DefaultPassword != "")
+                        if (Properties.OptionsCredentialsPage.Default.EmptyCredentials == "custom")
                         {
-                            LegacyRijndaelCryptographyProvider cryptographyProvider = new();
-                            _rdpClient.AdvancedSettings2.ClearTextPassword = cryptographyProvider.Decrypt(Properties.OptionsCredentialsPage.Default.DefaultPassword, Runtime.EncryptionKey);
+                            if (Properties.OptionsCredentialsPage.Default.DefaultPassword != "")
+                            {
+                                LegacyRijndaelCryptographyProvider cryptographyProvider = new();
+                                _rdpClient.AdvancedSettings2.ClearTextPassword = cryptographyProvider.Decrypt(Properties.OptionsCredentialsPage.Default.DefaultPassword, Runtime.EncryptionKey);
+                            }
                         }
                     }
-                }
-                else
-                {
-                    _rdpClient.AdvancedSettings2.ClearTextPassword = password;
+                    else
+                    {
+                        _rdpClient.AdvancedSettings2.ClearTextPassword = password;
+                    }
                 }
 
                 if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(domain))

mRemoteNG/Language/Language.resx

@@ -1114,10 +1114,10 @@ If you run into such an error, please create a new connection file!</value>
     <value>Use the Credential Security Support Provider (CredSSP) for authentication if it is available.</value>
   </data>
   <data name="PropertyDescriptionUseRestrictedAdmin" xml:space="preserve">
-    <value>Use restricted admin mode on the target host (local system context).</value>
+    <value>Use restricted admin mode on the target host (local system context). Credentials are not forwarded to the remote host; the current user's Kerberos ticket is used instead. Recommended for AD Protected Users accounts where NTLM authentication is disabled. Requires the connecting user to have administrative rights on the target.</value>
   </data>
   <data name="PropertyDescriptionUseRCG" xml:space="preserve">
-    <value>Use Remote Credential Guard to tunnel authentication on target back to source through the RDP channel.</value>
+    <value>Use Remote Credential Guard to tunnel authentication on target back to source through the RDP channel. Kerberos requests are redirected back to the connecting device, so credentials are never sent to the remote host. Recommended for AD Protected Users accounts where NTLM authentication is disabled. Requires both client and server to be domain-joined.</value>
   </data>
   <data name="PropertyDescriptionUser1" xml:space="preserve">
     <value>Feel free to enter any information you need here.</value>

mRemoteNG/UI/Menu/msMain/HelpMenu.cs

@@ -204,11 +204,6 @@ namespace mRemoteNG.UI.Menu
         
         private static void OpenUrl(string url)
         {
-            if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(url) ||
-                (!url.StartsWith("https://", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) &&
-                 !url.StartsWith("http://", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)))
-                return;
-
             var startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo
             {
                 FileName = url,

mRemoteNG/UI/Window/UpdateWindow.cs

@@ -99,13 +99,6 @@ namespace mRemoteNG.UI.Window
                 return;
             }
 
-            // Only allow http/https URLs to prevent exploitation via custom URI schemes
-            if (!linkUri.Scheme.Equals("https", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) &&
-                !linkUri.Scheme.Equals("http", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
-            {
-                return;
-            }
-
             var startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo
             {
                 FileName = linkUri.ToString(),