Question

I am making an MVC3 site using ServiceStacks authentication mechanism. When I add the AuthenticateAttribute to a controller, I get a null reference exception:

System.NullReferenceException was unhandled by user code
HResult=-2147467261
Message=Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
Source=ServiceStack.FluentValidation.Mvc3
StackTrace:
at ServiceStack.Mvc.ExecuteServiceStackFiltersAttribute.OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext  filterContext) in  C:\src\ServiceStack\src\ServiceStack.FluentValidation.Mvc3\Mvc\ExecuteServiceStackFiltersAttribute.cs:line 21
at System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionMethodFilter(IActionFilter filter, ActionExecutingContext preContext, Func`1 continuation)
   at System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.<>c__DisplayClass15.<>c__DisplayClass17.<InvokeActionMethodWithFilters>b__14()
   at System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionMethodFilter(IActionFilter filter, ActionExecutingContext preContext, Func`1 continuation)

I can see in github that pull request #267 seems to make some null ref check exactly where my code currently throws. I have another project where authentication works, but the new failing code is running on a newer version of ServiceStack and I can’t see what the difference is, so any ideas about what could cause this exception for new versions of service stack (v. 3.9.18)

Here is my configuration code:

Plugins.Add(new AuthFeature(
                        () => new AuthUserSession(), // Here a custom IAuthSession implementation could be used instead of UserSession.
                        // Allow authentication by using cookies set when authenticating with username/password credentials posted to the /auth/credentials service.
                        new IAuthProvider[]{ new CredentialsAuthProvider() }
                        )
            );
 //Enable Funq IOC in MVC controllers.
 ControllerBuilder.Current.SetControllerFactory(new FunqControllerFactory(container));


IUserAuthRepository userRepository = new OrmLiteAuthRepository(dbFactory);
container.Register(userRepository);
container.Register<ICacheClient>(new MemoryCacheClient());

        // Initialise Registration feature, providing the /register route.
        Plugins.Add(new RegistrationFeature());

And my Controller base class:

public abstract class ControllerBase : ServiceStackController<AuthUserSession> {
    public IDbConnectionFactory Db { get; set; }
    public ILog Log { get; set; }
    //Common extension point for all controllers. Inherits from ServiceStack to take advantage of SS powerpack + auth.
    public override string LoginRedirectUrl {
        get {
            return "/Auth/Login?redirect={0}";
        }
    }

}

Answer 1

I’ve updated the ServiceStack.Mvc NuGet package that resolved a null reference exception in (v3.9.18+). Try updating and see if that resolves it.