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Labs

Validate User Input for C# Applications

In this lab, you’ll practice identifying and mitigating low-level vulnerabilities in C#, specifically buffer overflow and insecure deserialization. When you’re finished, you’ll have developed two console applications—one demonstrating a buffer overflows vulnerability with a memory-safe alternative, and another illustrating insecure deserialization with a secure solution using restricted serializers.

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Lab platform
Lab Info
Level
Beginner
Last updated
Aug 05, 2025
Duration
1h 0m

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Table of Contents
  1. Challenge

    Getting Started in the Lab Environment

    Here are the initial instructions and explanation of the lab environment. Read this while your environment is busy creating itself from nothing. Yes, this violates physics; we know. How fun!

  2. Challenge

    Understanding Buffer Overflows & Insecure Deserialization in C#

    You'll begin by reviewing core C# programming concepts related to secure coding practices.

  3. Challenge

    Buffer Overflow Vulnerability and Mitigation

    You'll develop a C# console application that demonstrates a buffer overflow vulnerability using unsafe code.

  4. Challenge

    Insecure Deserialization Prevention in C#

    You'll work with a C# console application that demonstrates insecure deserialization using BinaryFormatter class. Then, you'll secure the deserialization process by replacing BinaryFormatter with the restricted serializer DataContractJsonSerializer.

  5. Challenge

    Knowledge Check for Validate User Input for C# Applications

    In this challenge, you will answer some assessment questions that will test your understanding of the concepts you learned throughout this lab.

About the author

Sean Wilkins is an accomplished networking consultant and writer for infoDispersion (www.infodispersion.com) who has been in the IT field for over 20 years working with several large enterprises.

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