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2 changes: 2 additions & 0 deletions docs/fundamentals/toc.yml
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -967,6 +967,8 @@ items:
href: ../standard/io/how-to-add-or-remove-access-control-list-entries.md
- name: "How to: Compress and Extract Files"
href: ../standard/io/how-to-compress-and-extract-files.md
- name: ZIP and TAR best practices
href: ../standard/io/zip-tar-best-practices.md
- name: Composing Streams
href: ../standard/io/composing-streams.md
- name: "How to: Convert Between .NET Framework Streams and Windows Runtime Streams"
Expand Down
269 changes: 269 additions & 0 deletions docs/standard/io/snippets/zip-tar-best-practices/csharp/Program.cs
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using System.Formats.Tar;
using System.IO.Compression;
// <SafeExtractEntry>
void SafeExtractEntry(ZipArchiveEntry entry, string destinationPath, long maxDecompressedSize)
{
// The runtime enforces that entry.Open() will never produce more than
// entry.Length bytes, so checking the declared size is sufficient.
if (entry.Length > maxDecompressedSize)
{
throw new InvalidOperationException(
$"Entry '{entry.FullName}' declares size {entry.Length}, exceeding limit {maxDecompressedSize}.");
}

entry.ExtractToFile(destinationPath, overwrite: false);
}
// </SafeExtractEntry>

// <SafeExtractArchive>
void SafeExtractArchive(ZipArchive archive, string destinationDir,
long maxTotalSize, int maxEntryCount)
{
// Flat zip bombs can contain many entries that each expand to large sizes.
// Reject the archive early if the entry count exceeds your limit.
if (archive.Entries.Count > maxEntryCount)
{
throw new InvalidOperationException("Archive contains an excessive number of entries.");
}

long totalExtracted = 0;
foreach (ZipArchiveEntry entry in archive.Entries)
{
totalExtracted = checked(totalExtracted + entry.Length);
if (totalExtracted > maxTotalSize)
{
throw new InvalidOperationException(
$"Archive total decompressed size exceeds the allowed limit of {maxTotalSize} bytes.");
}
// ... extract each entry with per-entry limits too
}
}
// </SafeExtractArchive>

// <PathValidation>
void ValidatePaths(ZipArchive archive, string destinationDir)
{
string fullDestDir = Path.GetFullPath(destinationDir);
if (!fullDestDir.EndsWith(Path.DirectorySeparatorChar))
fullDestDir += Path.DirectorySeparatorChar;

foreach (ZipArchiveEntry entry in archive.Entries)
{
string destPath = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Join(fullDestDir, entry.FullName));

if (!destPath.StartsWith(fullDestDir, StringComparison.Ordinal))
Comment on lines +46 to +54
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Do we have any plans to make this easier to do correctly in the future?
E.g. the missing trailing separator on the destination dir is trivial to miss.

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We do have the trailing separator check for both zips and tars, but for the higher-level, convenience ExtractToDirectory methods. However, these are less secure and we recommend iterating through the archives and extracting entries one by one. The disadvantage is that some extra manual checks are necessary this way.

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@svick svick May 4, 2026

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@MihaZupan There is this proposal for Path.IsSubdirectory: dotnet/runtime#87581. But it doesn't seem to be very active. File system case sensitivity makes that more difficult as well.

throw new IOException(
$"Entry '{entry.FullName}' would extract outside the destination directory.");
}
}
// </PathValidation>

// <VulnerablePattern>
void DangerousExtract(string extractDir)
{
// ⚠️ DANGEROUS: entry.FullName could contain "../" sequences
using ZipArchive archive = ZipFile.OpenRead("archive.zip");
foreach (ZipArchiveEntry entry in archive.Entries)
{
string destinationPath = Path.Combine(extractDir, entry.FullName);
entry.ExtractToFile(destinationPath, overwrite: true); // Might write outside of `extractDir`
}
}
// </VulnerablePattern>

// <SafeExtractZip>
void SafeExtractZip(string archivePath, string destinationDir,
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If the safe way to use our API is to copy-paste such a helper into your code, we should consider exposing better APIs

E.g. bool TryResolvePath(string destinationDirectory, out string path) on TarEntry/ZipArchiveEntry, and/or adding maxTotalSize/maxEntrySize/maxEntryCount as options to ExtractToDirectory.

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You've got a point, maybe we should consider creating per-entry safe extraction methods or add some options to let user decide how to interact with these apis

long maxTotalSize, long maxEntrySize, int maxEntryCount)
{
// Resolve the destination to an absolute path and ensure it ends with a
// directory separator. This trailing separator is essential — without it,
// the StartsWith check below could be tricked by paths like
// "/safe-dir-evil/" matching "/safe-dir".
string fullDestDir = Path.GetFullPath(destinationDir);
if (!fullDestDir.EndsWith(Path.DirectorySeparatorChar))
fullDestDir += Path.DirectorySeparatorChar;

Directory.CreateDirectory(fullDestDir);

using var archive = new ZipArchive(File.OpenRead(archivePath), ZipArchiveMode.Read);

// Check the entry count up front. ZIP central directory is read eagerly,
// so archive.Entries.Count is available immediately without iterating.
if (archive.Entries.Count > maxEntryCount)
throw new InvalidOperationException("Archive contains too many entries.");

long totalSize = 0;
foreach (ZipArchiveEntry entry in archive.Entries)
{
// Enforce per-entry and cumulative size limits using the declared uncompressed size.
totalSize += entry.Length;
if (entry.Length > maxEntrySize)
throw new InvalidOperationException(
$"Entry '{entry.FullName}' exceeds per-entry size limit.");
if (totalSize > maxTotalSize)
throw new InvalidOperationException("Archive exceeds total size limit.");

// Resolve the full destination path using Path.GetFullPath, which
// normalizes away any "../" segments. Then verify the result still
// starts with the destination directory.
string destPath = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Join(fullDestDir, entry.FullName));
if (!destPath.StartsWith(fullDestDir, StringComparison.Ordinal))
throw new IOException(
$"Entry '{entry.FullName}' would extract outside the destination.");

// By convention, directory entries in ZIP archives have names ending
// in '/'. Path.GetFileName returns empty for these, so we use that
// to distinguish directories from files.
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(Path.GetFileName(destPath)))
{
Directory.CreateDirectory(destPath);
}
else
{
// Create the parent directory and any missing intermediate directories.
Directory.CreateDirectory(Path.GetDirectoryName(destPath)!);
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entry.ExtractToFile(destPath, overwrite: false);
}
}
}
// </SafeExtractZip>

// <SafeExtractTar>
void SafeExtractTar(Stream archiveStream, string destinationDir,
long maxTotalSize, long maxEntrySize, int maxEntryCount)
{
// Same trailing-separator technique as the ZIP example.
string fullDestDir = Path.GetFullPath(destinationDir);
if (!fullDestDir.EndsWith(Path.DirectorySeparatorChar))
fullDestDir += Path.DirectorySeparatorChar;

Directory.CreateDirectory(fullDestDir);

using var reader = new TarReader(archiveStream);
TarEntry? entry;
long totalSize = 0;
int entryCount = 0;

// TAR has no central directory — entries are read one at a time.
// GetNextEntry() returns null when the archive is exhausted.
while ((entry = reader.GetNextEntry()) is not null)
{
if (++entryCount > maxEntryCount)
throw new InvalidOperationException("Archive contains too many entries.");

if (entry.Length > maxEntrySize)
throw new InvalidOperationException(
$"Entry '{entry.Name}' exceeds per-entry size limit.");
totalSize += entry.Length;
if (totalSize > maxTotalSize)
throw new InvalidOperationException("Archive exceeds total size limit.");

// Allow-list of entry types to process. Any type not listed here is
// silently skipped. We exclude symlinks, hard links (which can
// escape the destination), and metadata types
// (GlobalExtendedAttributes, ExtendedAttributes, LongLink, and
// LongPath) that contain no file data.
TarEntryType[] allowedTypes =
[
TarEntryType.RegularFile,
TarEntryType.V7RegularFile,
TarEntryType.ContiguousFile,
TarEntryType.Directory
];

if (!allowedTypes.Contains(entry.EntryType))
continue;

// Normalize and validate the path, same as the ZIP example.
string destPath = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Join(fullDestDir, entry.Name));
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if (!destPath.StartsWith(fullDestDir, StringComparison.Ordinal))
throw new IOException(
$"Entry '{entry.Name}' would extract outside the destination.");

if (entry.EntryType is TarEntryType.Directory)
{
Directory.CreateDirectory(destPath);
}
else
{
// Create the parent directory and any missing intermediate directories.
Directory.CreateDirectory(Path.GetDirectoryName(destPath)!);
entry.ExtractToFile(destPath, overwrite: false);
}
}
}
// </SafeExtractTar>

// <ValidateSymlink>
bool IsLinkTargetSafe(TarEntry entry, string fullDestDir)
{
// A symlink with an absolute (rooted) target is resolved from the filesystem root, not from the extraction directory.
if (Path.IsPathRooted(entry.LinkName))
return false;

if (!fullDestDir.EndsWith(Path.DirectorySeparatorChar))
fullDestDir += Path.DirectorySeparatorChar;

string resolvedTarget;

if (entry.EntryType is TarEntryType.SymbolicLink)
{
// Symlink targets are relative to the symlink's own parent directory, or absolute.
string entryDir = Path.GetDirectoryName(
Path.GetFullPath(Path.Join(fullDestDir, entry.Name)))!;
resolvedTarget = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Join(entryDir, entry.LinkName));
}
else
{
// Hard link targets are relative to the destination directory root.
resolvedTarget = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Join(fullDestDir, entry.LinkName));
}

return resolvedTarget.StartsWith(fullDestDir, StringComparison.Ordinal);
}
// </ValidateSymlink>

// <StreamingApproach>
void StreamingModify()
{
// ✅ Streaming approach for large archives
using var input = new ZipArchive(File.OpenRead("large.zip"), ZipArchiveMode.Read);
using var output = new ZipArchive(File.Create("modified.zip"), ZipArchiveMode.Create);

foreach (var entry in input.Entries)
{
if (ShouldKeep(entry))
{
var newEntry = output.CreateEntry(entry.FullName);
using var src = entry.Open();
using var dst = newEntry.Open();
src.CopyTo(dst);
}
}
}

bool ShouldKeep(ZipArchiveEntry entry) => true;
// </StreamingApproach>

// <TarStreaming>
void TarStreamingRead(Stream archiveStream, string destDir)
{
using var reader = new TarReader(archiveStream);
TarEntry? entry;
while ((entry = reader.GetNextEntry()) is not null)
{
// DataStream is only valid until the next GetNextEntry() call,
// so consume or copy the data before advancing.
if (entry.DataStream is not null)
{
string destPath = Path.Join(destDir, entry.Name);
using var fileStream = File.Create(destPath);
entry.DataStream.CopyTo(fileStream);
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}
}

// Alternatively, pass copyContents: true to retain entry data
// in a separate MemoryStream that remains valid after advancing:
// entry = reader.GetNextEntry(copyContents: true);
}
// </TarStreaming>
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<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

<PropertyGroup>
<OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
<TargetFramework>net11.0</TargetFramework>
<ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
<Nullable>enable</Nullable>
</PropertyGroup>


</Project>
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