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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-22T22:59:07+00:00

I have a .Net application dump which captured an exception, I’m analysing using windbg

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I have a .Net application dump which captured an exception, I’m analysing using windbg and interested in the value of a String parameter on one of the methods. I’ve isolated the String object. My windbg working is:

0:000> .loadby sos mscorwks
0:000> !dso
OS Thread Id: 0x16f0 (0)
RSP/REG          Object           Name
00000000001fe908 000000000f011440 System.AppDomainSetup
00000000001fe918 000000000f0335f8 System.ArgumentException
00000000001fe920 000000000f011b60 System.String

0:000> !do 000000000f011b60

Name: System.String
MethodTable: 000007feef477a80
EEClass: 000007feef07e530
Size: 538(0x21a) bytes
 (C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_64\mscorlib\2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\mscorlib.dll)
String: C:\Windows\Installer\MSI2D87.tmp
Fields:
              MT    Field   Offset                 Type VT     Attr            Value Name
000007feef47ecf0  4000096        8         System.Int32  1 instance              257 m_arrayLength
000007feef47ecf0  4000097        c         System.Int32  1 instance              179 m_stringLength
000007feef4794c8  4000098       10          System.Char  1 instance               43 m_firstChar
000007feef477a80  4000099       20        System.String  0   shared           static Empty
                                 >> Domain:Value  00000000029d02d0:000000000f011308 <<
000007feef479378  400009a       28        System.Char[]  0   shared           static WhitespaceChars
                                 >> Domain:Value  00000000029d02d0:000000000f0121f8 <<

The m_stringLength member variable indicates that the string is 179 characters long, however inspecting the string it seems to be only 32 characters long. Looking at the memory for this string is appears to be NULL terminated. There are more characters after the NULL terminating character. This may be reused memory or a string corruption however the path looks correct as displayed.
The exception being thrown is ‘Illegal characters in path’ but there are no illegal characters in this path.
So the call stack for this exception is:

0:000> !CLRStack
OS Thread Id: 0xbac (0)
Child-SP         RetAddr          Call Site
000000000021e9a0 000007feeea64dec System.IO.Path.CheckInvalidPathChars(System.String)
000000000021e9e0 000007feee9c0e66 System.IO.Path.NormalizePathFast(System.String, Boolean)
000000000021eaa0 000007feee9badf8 System.AppDomainSetup.NormalizePath(System.String, Boolean)
000000000021eb10 000007feeea630ad System.AppDomainSetup.SetupDefaultApplicationBase(System.String)
000000000021eb70 000007feee9bb27b System.AppDomain.SetupFusionStore(System.AppDomainSetup)
000000000021ebc0 000007feef87d4a2 System.AppDomain.SetupDomain(Boolean, System.String, System.String)

Does the System.IO.Path.CheckInvalidPathChars method process the string using the length found in m_stringLength, or does it take into account the NULL termination in the string itself?
I’m also open to the fact that there is something else wrong if you can spot something I haven’t.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Here’s what System.IO.Path.CheckInvalidPathChars is doing (at least in .NET 2.0):

    for (int i = 0; i < path.Length; i++)
{
    int num2 = path[i];
    if (((num2 == 0x22) || (num2 == 60)) || (((num2 == 0x3e) || (num2 == 0x7c)) || (num2 < 0x20)))
    {
        throw new ArgumentException(Environment.GetResourceString("Argument_InvalidPathChars"));
    }
}

    Note that the interesting part of string.Length, that is, how string actually exposes its length property, is missing:

    public int Length { [MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.InternalCall)] get; }

    I would try to simulate the issue if possible, by retrieving the exact string (up to to length stored in m_stringLength) and trying to reproduce the issue.

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