How do you programmatically fix a non-canonical ACL?

I found the solution to this in an MSDN blog post: Say wwhhhaaaat? - The access control list is not canonical. Basically, you need to construct a new DACL with the same permissions, but in the correct canonical order:

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    // directory with known ACL problem (created using Icacls)
    DirectoryInfo directoryInfo = new DirectoryInfo("acltest");

    var directorySecurity = directoryInfo.GetAccessControl(AccessControlSections.Access);
    CanonicalizeDacl(directorySecurity);
    directoryInfo.SetAccessControl(directorySecurity);
}

static void CanonicalizeDacl(NativeObjectSecurity objectSecurity)
{
    if (objectSecurity == null) { throw new ArgumentNullException("objectSecurity"); }
    if (objectSecurity.AreAccessRulesCanonical) { return; }

    // A canonical ACL must have ACES sorted according to the following order:
    //   1. Access-denied on the object
    //   2. Access-denied on a child or property
    //   3. Access-allowed on the object
    //   4. Access-allowed on a child or property
    //   5. All inherited ACEs 
    RawSecurityDescriptor descriptor = new RawSecurityDescriptor(objectSecurity.GetSecurityDescriptorSddlForm(AccessControlSections.Access));

    List<CommonAce> implicitDenyDacl = new List<CommonAce>();
    List<CommonAce> implicitDenyObjectDacl = new List<CommonAce>();
    List<CommonAce> inheritedDacl = new List<CommonAce>();
    List<CommonAce> implicitAllowDacl = new List<CommonAce>();
    List<CommonAce> implicitAllowObjectDacl = new List<CommonAce>();

    foreach (CommonAce ace in descriptor.DiscretionaryAcl)
    {
        if ((ace.AceFlags & AceFlags.Inherited) == AceFlags.Inherited) { inheritedDacl.Add(ace); }
        else
        {
            switch (ace.AceType)
            {
                case AceType.AccessAllowed:
                    implicitAllowDacl.Add(ace);
                    break;

                case AceType.AccessDenied:
                    implicitDenyDacl.Add(ace);
                    break;

                case AceType.AccessAllowedObject:
                    implicitAllowObjectDacl.Add(ace);
                    break;

                case AceType.AccessDeniedObject:
                    implicitDenyObjectDacl.Add(ace);
                    break;
            }
        }
    }

    Int32 aceIndex = 0;
    RawAcl newDacl = new RawAcl(descriptor.DiscretionaryAcl.Revision, descriptor.DiscretionaryAcl.Count);
    implicitDenyDacl.ForEach(x => newDacl.InsertAce(aceIndex++, x));
    implicitDenyObjectDacl.ForEach(x => newDacl.InsertAce(aceIndex++, x));
    implicitAllowDacl.ForEach(x => newDacl.InsertAce(aceIndex++, x));
    implicitAllowObjectDacl.ForEach(x => newDacl.InsertAce(aceIndex++, x));
    inheritedDacl.ForEach(x => newDacl.InsertAce(aceIndex++, x));

    if (aceIndex != descriptor.DiscretionaryAcl.Count)
    {
        System.Diagnostics.Debug.Fail("The DACL cannot be canonicalized since it would potentially result in a loss of information");
        return;
    }

    descriptor.DiscretionaryAcl = newDacl;
    objectSecurity.SetSecurityDescriptorSddlForm(descriptor.GetSddlForm(AccessControlSections.Access), AccessControlSections.Access);
}

Tags:

C#

Exception

Acl