Proposal to use Windows Side-by-side Assemblies for KFW distribution

[RJ Silk]

Jeff,

Thank you for the clarification. I've modified my prototype and am now 
able to execute the server from within the SxS assembly. I've noticed 
while testing on Vista machine that it appears to load in such a way 
that the process isn't visible in the task manager or command line 
utilities. Do you happen to know if a SxS executable is given special 
security elevation over traditional processes in Vista? If so, could 
this have any security implications for KfW?

Thank you!
-Robert

Jeffrey Altman wrote:
> Robert:
>
> There are two competing problems here.  First, the krbcc32.dll and
> krbcc32s.exe are bound together.  There is no guarantee that a 
> krbcc32.dll
> will work with another krbcc32s.exe instance.  In fact, when the new
> CCAPI server that Kevin created is on the same machine as a KFW 3.2.x
> CCAPI dll they will not communicate.  So it is crucial that the dll
> and the exe be shipped together and that the dll only startup a copy
> of a server that it shipped with.
>
> On the other hand there is this prohibition against including executables
> within assemblies.  As you point out, SxS assemblies should not be 
> invoked
> by applications by full path.  This is to permit assemblies to be 
> installed
> in any location that Windows (or the administrator) deems appropriate.
>
> However, that does not prohibit an assembly from accessing its own
> components by path.  What the CCAPI library needs to do is resolve its
> own path and then use that to execute the server component with
> CreateProcess.
>
> Jeffrey Altman
>
>
> RJ Silk wrote:
>> Hi Jeff,
>>
>> I’m working on integrating/testing the merge module configurations 
>> with the build scripts Kevin was working on before he left. I’ve 
>> successfully built and installed the single-assembly (for testing) 
>> merge module described in your proposal, but I’m having a little 
>> trouble figuring out how I should go about modifying the CCAPI code 
>> to execute the credential cache server from the SxS assembly cache. 
>> In my testing, it doesn’t seem like CreateProcess(Ex) can resolve SxS 
>> executables (even when they reside in the same SxS assembly), and 
>> Microsoft says SxS assemblies should not be manually invoked by full 
>> path. Were you able to successfully load the server from the cache in 
>> your testing? Did you envision having a copy of the Krbcc32s 
>> executable sitting outside of the cache as well?
>>
>> Thank you!
>> -Robert
>>
>> Jeffrey Altman wrote:
>>> Asanka Herath of Secure Endpoints has spent the last couple of 
>>> months developing and prototyping a proposal to use Windows 
>>> Side-by-Side Assemblies and Merge Modules as a means of distributing 
>>> the core KFW libraries. The goal is to permit the core libraries to 
>>> be installed along side third party applications that link to them 
>>> in exactly the same way that the applications distribute 
>>> redistributable components from Microsoft.
>>>
>>> The proposal can be obtained at
>>>
>>> http://www.secure-endpoints.com/kfw/proposal-kfw-assemblies.html
>>>
>>> Please note that this proposal will require changes to the core 
>>> libraries to permit multiple versions of the libraries to be 
>>> installed on the same machine at the same time. If adopted, all 
>>> distributions of the KFW libraries will have to be digitally signed, 
>>> the minimum supported development platform would be Visual Studio 
>>> 2005, and the minimum supported operating system version would be 
>>> Windows XP.
>>>
>>> Feedback is welcome.
>>>
>>> Jeffrey Altman
>>> Secure Endpoints Inc.
>>>
>>>
>>
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>