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CA3003: Review code for file path injection vulnerabilities

  • Article
Property Value
Rule ID CA3003
Title Review code for file path injection vulnerabilities
Category Security
Fix is breaking or non-breaking Non-breaking
Enabled by default in .NET 9 No

Cause

Potentially untrusted HTTP request input reaches the path of a file operation.

By default, this rule analyzes the entire codebase, but this is configurable.

Rule description

When working with untrusted input from web requests, be mindful of using user-controlled input when specifying paths to files. An attacker may be able to read an unintended file, resulting in information disclosure of sensitive data. Or, an attacker may be able to write to an unintended file, resulting in unauthorized modification of sensitive data or compromising the server's security. A common attacker technique is Path Traversal to access files outside of the intended directory.

This rule attempts to find input from HTTP requests reaching a path in a file operation.

Note

This rule can't track data across assemblies. For example, if one assembly reads the HTTP request input and then passes it to another assembly that writes to a file, this rule won't produce a warning.

Note

There is a configurable limit to how deep this rule will analyze data flow across method calls. See Analyzer Configuration for how to configure the limit in an EditorConfig file.

How to fix violations

  • If possible, limit file paths based on user input to an explicitly known safe list. For example, if your application only needs to access "red.txt", "green.txt", or "blue.txt", only allow those values.
  • Check for untrusted filenames and validate that the name is well formed.
  • Use full path names when specifying paths.
  • Avoid potentially dangerous constructs such as path environment variables.
  • Only accept long filenames and validate long name if user submits short names.
  • Restrict end user input to valid characters.
  • Reject names where MAX_PATH length is exceeded.
  • Handle filenames literally, without interpretation.
  • Determine if the filename represents a file or a device.

When to suppress warnings

If you've validated input as described in the previous section, it's okay to suppress this warning.

Configure code to analyze

Use the following options to configure which parts of your codebase to run this rule on.

You can configure these options for just this rule, for all rules it applies to, or for all rules in this category (Security) that it applies to. For more information, see Code quality rule configuration options.

Exclude specific symbols

You can exclude specific symbols, such as types and methods, from analysis. For example, to specify that the rule should not run on any code within types named MyType, add the following key-value pair to an .editorconfig file in your project:

dotnet_code_quality.CAXXXX.excluded_symbol_names = MyType

Allowed symbol name formats in the option value (separated by |):

  • Symbol name only (includes all symbols with the name, regardless of the containing type or namespace).
  • Fully qualified names in the symbol's documentation ID format. Each symbol name requires a symbol-kind prefix, such as M: for methods, T: for types, and N: for namespaces.
  • .ctor for constructors and .cctor for static constructors.

Examples:

Option Value Summary
dotnet_code_quality.CAXXXX.excluded_symbol_names = MyType Matches all symbols named MyType.
dotnet_code_quality.CAXXXX.excluded_symbol_names = MyType1|MyType2 Matches all symbols named either MyType1 or MyType2.
dotnet_code_quality.CAXXXX.excluded_symbol_names = M:NS.MyType.MyMethod(ParamType) Matches specific method MyMethod with the specified fully qualified signature.
dotnet_code_quality.CAXXXX.excluded_symbol_names = M:NS1.MyType1.MyMethod1(ParamType)|M:NS2.MyType2.MyMethod2(ParamType) Matches specific methods MyMethod1 and MyMethod2 with the respective fully qualified signatures.

Exclude specific types and their derived types

You can exclude specific types and their derived types from analysis. For example, to specify that the rule should not run on any methods within types named MyType and their derived types, add the following key-value pair to an .editorconfig file in your project:

dotnet_code_quality.CAXXXX.excluded_type_names_with_derived_types = MyType

Allowed symbol name formats in the option value (separated by |):

  • Type name only (includes all types with the name, regardless of the containing type or namespace).
  • Fully qualified names in the symbol's documentation ID format, with an optional T: prefix.

Examples:

Option Value Summary
dotnet_code_quality.CAXXXX.excluded_type_names_with_derived_types = MyType Matches all types named MyType and all of their derived types.
dotnet_code_quality.CAXXXX.excluded_type_names_with_derived_types = MyType1|MyType2 Matches all types named either MyType1 or MyType2 and all of their derived types.
dotnet_code_quality.CAXXXX.excluded_type_names_with_derived_types = M:NS.MyType Matches specific type MyType with given fully qualified name and all of its derived types.
dotnet_code_quality.CAXXXX.excluded_type_names_with_derived_types = M:NS1.MyType1|M:NS2.MyType2 Matches specific types MyType1 and MyType2 with the respective fully qualified names, and all of their derived types.

Pseudo-code examples

Violation

using System;
using System.IO;

public partial class WebForm : System.Web.UI.Page
{
    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        string userInput = Request.Params["UserInput"];
        // Assume the following directory structure:
        //   wwwroot\currentWebDirectory\user1.txt
        //   wwwroot\currentWebDirectory\user2.txt
        //   wwwroot\secret\allsecrets.txt
        // There is nothing wrong if the user inputs:
        //   user1.txt
        // However, if the user input is:
        //   ..\secret\allsecrets.txt
        // Then an attacker can now see all the secrets.

        // Avoid this:
        using (File.Open(userInput, FileMode.Open))
        {
            // Read a file with the name supplied by user
            // Input through request's query string and display
            // The content to the webpage.
        }
    }
}

Imports System
Imports System.IO

Partial Public Class WebForm
    Inherits System.Web.UI.Page

    Protected Sub Page_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
        Dim userInput As String = Me.Request.Params("UserInput")
        ' Assume the following directory structure:
        '   wwwroot\currentWebDirectory\user1.txt
        '   wwwroot\currentWebDirectory\user2.txt
        '   wwwroot\secret\allsecrets.txt
        ' There is nothing wrong if the user inputs:
        '   user1.txt
        ' However, if the user input is:
        '   ..\secret\allsecrets.txt
        ' Then an attacker can now see all the secrets.

        ' Avoid this:
        Using File.Open(userInput, FileMode.Open)
            ' Read a file with the name supplied by user
            ' Input through request's query string and display
            ' The content to the webpage.
        End Using
    End Sub
End Class