SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES structure

The SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES structure contains the security descriptor for an object and specifies whether the handle retrieved by specifying this structure is inheritable. This structure provides security settings for objects created by various functions, such as CreateFile, CreatePipe, CreateProcess, RegCreateKeyEx, or RegSaveKeyEx.

Syntax

typedef struct _SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES {
  DWORD  nLength;
  LPVOID lpSecurityDescriptor;
  BOOL   bInheritHandle;
} SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES, *PSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES, *LPSECURITY_ATTRIBUTES;

Members

• nLength
  The size, in bytes, of this structure. Set this value to the size of the SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES structure.

• lpSecurityDescriptor
  A pointer to a SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR structure that controls access to the object. If the value of this member is NULL, the object is assigned the default security descriptor associated with the access token of the calling process. This is not the same as granting access to everyone by assigning a NULL discretionary access control list (DACL). By default, the default DACL in the access token of a process allows access only to the user represented by the access token.

  For information about creating a security descriptor, see Creating a Security Descriptor.

• bInheritHandle
  A Boolean value that specifies whether the returned handle is inherited when a new process is created. If this member is TRUE, the new process inherits the handle.

Requirements

Minimum supported client	Windows XP [desktop apps | UWP apps]
Minimum supported server	Windows Server 2003 [desktop apps | UWP apps]
Header	Winbase.h (include Windows.h)

See also

SECURITY_DESCRIPTOR