.NET Framework Security

Chapter 7. Walking the Stack

By Rudi Martin

IN THIS CHAPTER

• A Review of Stacks and Their Uses

• The Security Stack Walk

• Modifying a Stack Walk

• The Interaction of App Domains with Stack Walks

Walking the stack—the act of determining at runtime which methods are calling you—is a fundamental part of the .NET Framework runtime. In particular, this technique is absolutely essential to the operation of the security system. Understanding the techniques and algorithms used is vital when considering the design and implementation of secure code.

One of the advantages that a managed environment, such as the .NET Framework, enjoys is that information that would typically be discarded under a traditional, statically compiled model is still available at runtime. ...