Question

I have something curious that I am hoping a .Net expert can help me with.

I have a custom configuration section and to get hold of it I do this:

var s = (TestConfigurationSection)ConfigurationManager
    .GetSection("testSection");

I run that on my development machine (Windows 7, 64 bit, Windows completely up to date) and it works fine.

I take the exe with that code in and I put it in a directory inside c:\users\public on a Windows Server 2008 R2 machine, open up a command prompt as administrator, run it and I get:

System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException: An error occurred creating the configuration section handler for testSection: Request failed. (C:\Users\Public\configtest\AppConfigTestConsoleApplication.exe.Config line 10) —> System.Security.SecurityException: Request failed.

Now I changed that code to do this:

var config = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(
    ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
var s = (TestConfigurationSection) config
    .GetSection("testSection");

and it works fine on both machines.

So, I am moderately happy (in as much as my application is working) but that little Gremlin in my head is confused so I ask here:

Why is this the case?

---

Steps to reproduce

Create a new .net 4 Console application project called AppConfigTestConsoleApplication in visual studio 2010 and replace the contents of Program.cs with the following:

using System;
using System.Configuration;

namespace AppConfigTestConsoleApplication
{
    public class TestConfigurationSection : ConfigurationSection
    {
        [ConfigurationProperty("someSetting")]
        public int SomeSetting
        {
            get { return (int) this["someSetting"]; }
            set { this["someSetting"] = value; }
        }
    }

    internal class Program
    {
        private static void Main()
        {
            try
            {
                var s = (TestConfigurationSection) ConfigurationManager
                    .GetSection("testSection");
                Console.WriteLine("First Method worked: " + s.SomeSetting);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("First method failed");
                Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());

                if (ex.InnerException != null)
                {
                    var eex = ex.InnerException as SecurityException;
                    Console.WriteLine("Action: '{0}'", eex.Action.ToString());
                    Console.WriteLine("Demanded: '{0}'", eex.Demanded.ToString());
                    Console.WriteLine("RefusedSet: '{0}'", eex.RefusedSet);
                    Console.WriteLine("GrantedSet: '{0}'", eex.GrantedSet);
                }

                try
                {
                    var config = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(
                        ConfigurationUserLevel.None);

                    var s = (TestConfigurationSection) config
                        .GetSection("testSection");

                    Console.WriteLine("Second Method worked: " 
                        + s.SomeSetting);
                }
                catch (Exception x)
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("Even the second method failed!");
                    Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Then add an application configuration file and replace the contents with the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>  
    <section
      name="testSection"
      type="AppConfigTestConsoleApplication.TestConfigurationSection, AppConfigTestConsoleApplication"
      requirePermission="false"
      allowDefinition="Everywhere" />  
  </configSections>
  <testSection someSetting="10"></testSection>
</configuration>

Compile and run and this is the output I got:

C:\Users\Public\configtest>AppConfigTestConsoleApplication.exe
First method failed
System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException: An error occurred creating the configuration section handler for testSection: Request failed. (C:\Users\Public\configtest\AppConfigTestConsoleApplication.exe.Config line 10) ---> System.Security.SecurityException: Request failed.
   at System.RuntimeMethodHandle.PerformSecurityCheck(Object obj, RuntimeMethodHandleInternal method, RuntimeType parent, UInt32 invocationFlags)
   at System.RuntimeMethodHandle.PerformSecurityCheck(Object obj, IRuntimeMethodInfo method, RuntimeType parent, UInt32 invocationFlags)
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeConstructorInfo.Invoke(BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture)
   at System.Reflection.ConstructorInfo.Invoke(Object[] parameters)
   at System.Configuration.TypeUtil.InvokeCtorWithReflectionPermission(ConstructorInfo ctor)
   at System.Configuration.RuntimeConfigurationRecord.RuntimeConfigurationFactory.CreateSectionImpl(RuntimeConfigurationRecord configRecord, FactoryRecord factoryRecord, SectionRecord sectionRecord, Object parentConfig, ConfigXmlReader reader)
   at System.Configuration.RuntimeConfigurationRecord.RuntimeConfigurationFactory.CreateSectionWithRestrictedPermissions(RuntimeConfigurationRecord configRecord, FactoryRecord factoryRecord, SectionRecord sectionRecord, Object parentConfig, ConfigXmlReader reader)
   at System.Configuration.RuntimeConfigurationRecord.CreateSection(Boolean inputIsTrusted, FactoryRecord factoryRecord, SectionRecord sectionRecord, Object parentConfig, ConfigXmlReader reader)
   at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.CallCreateSection(Boolean inputIsTrusted, FactoryRecord factoryRecord, SectionRecord sectionRecord, Object parentConfig, ConfigXmlReader reader, String filename, Int32 line)
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.EvaluateOne(String[] keys, SectionInput input, Boolean isTrusted, FactoryRecord factoryRecord, SectionRecordsectionRecord, Object parentResult)
   at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.Evaluate(FactoryRecord factoryRecord, SectionRecord sectionRecord, Object parentResult, Boolean getLkg, Boolean getRuntimeObject, Object& result, Object& resultRuntimeObject)
   at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.GetSectionRecursive(String configKey, Boolean getLkg, Boolean checkPermission, Boolean getRuntimeObject, Boolean requestIsHere, Object& result, Object& resultRuntimeObject)
   at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.GetSectionRecursive(String configKey, Boolean getLkg, Boolean checkPermission, Boolean getRuntimeObject, Boolean requestIsHere, Object& result, Object& resultRuntimeObject)
   at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.GetSectionRecursive(String configKey, Boolean getLkg, Boolean checkPermission, Boolean getRuntimeObject, Boolean requestIsHere, Object& result, Object& resultRuntimeObject)
   at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.GetSection(String configKey)
   at System.Configuration.ClientConfigurationSystem.System.Configuration.Internal.IInternalConfigSystem.GetSection(String sectionName)
   at System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.GetSection(String sectionName)
   at AppConfigTestConsoleApplication.Program.Main()
Action: 'Demand'
Demanded: '<PermissionSet class="System.Security.PermissionSet"
version="1"
Unrestricted="true"/>
'
RefusedSet: ''
GrantedSet: ''
Second Method worked: 10

Process Monitor

I ran Process Monitor and set the filter like so:

And that left 508 events that are all one of:

• NAME NOT FOUND
• NO MORE ENTRIES
• PATH NOT FOUND
• FILE LOCKED WITH ONLY READERS
• NO SUCH FILE (just once for C:\Windows\assembly\NativeImages_v4.0.30319_32\mscorlib\93e7df09dacd5fef442cc22d28efec83\mscorlib.ni.dll and C:\Users\Public\configtest\AppConfigTestConsoleApplication.exe.config)
• BUFFER OVERFLOW (for HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\MuiCached\MachinePreferredUILanguages, HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\Cache,

Does anyone have any advice perhaps on what filter to set to get to the root cause?

Answer 1

I had this same behavior when the assembly was “blocked” (under the file properties tab). The files were emailed via a zip to the admin. When he saved off the attachment, the block bit was added…just like when you download a file from the internet. After we clear the block, it worked fine.