Question

I have some inherited code which stores SMTP server, username, password in the system.net/mailSettings/smtp section of the Web.config.

It used to read them like so:

Configuration c = WebConfigurationManager.OpenWebConfiguration(HttpContext.Current.Request.ApplicationPath);
MailSettingsSectionGroup settings = (MailSettingsSectionGroup)c.GetSectionGroup("system.net/mailSettings");
return settings.Smtp.Network.Host;

But this was failing when I had to deploy to a medium trust environment.

So following the answer from this question, I rewrote it to use GetSection() like so:

SmtpSection settings = (SmtpSection)ConfigurationManager.GetSection("system.net/mailSettings/smtp");
return settings.Network.Host;

But it’s still giving me a SecurityException on Medium trust, with the following message:

Request for ConfigurationPermission
failed while attempting to access
configuration section
‘system.net/mailSettings/smtp’. To
allow all callers to access the data
for this section, set section
attribute ‘requirePermission’ equal
‘false’ in the configuration file
where this section is declared.

So I tried this requirePermission attribute, but can’t figure out where to put it.

If I apply it to the <smtp> node, I get a ConfigurationError: “Unrecognized attribute ‘requirePermission’. Note that attribute names are case-sensitive.”

If I apply it to the <mailSettings> node, I still get the SecurityException.

Is there any way to get at this config section programatically under medium trust? Or should I just give up on it and move the setting into <appSettings>?

Answer 1

The requirePemission attribute goes on the <configSections> grouping that matches the part fo the web.config you are having the security issue with.

additionally, you don’t have to actually read the settings using code to send mail – you can simply use a blank SmtpClient:

 new SmtpClient.Send(MyMailMessage);

it will send using the settings from the config sections by default.