Hi guys, it’s been a while, but I am daring to bring this up again…
I have been cleaning up a project and used the workflow analyzer to check for rule violations. Turns out several Potential SecureString misusage were detected.
The SecureString type should not be used for any purpose other than the intended. Scope of these variables should be very limited, ideally in the same scope where they were created. Learn more.
I tried to make the activities using plain string credentials as safe as possible (mail and OCR activities). I marked all relevant activities in GetAppCredentials.xaml and the other workflows as Private and only SecureStrings are passed as arguments to variables. In the password property of the activities I used the “new System.Net.NetworkCredential(string.Empty, password).Password” workaround.
My question now is: How relevant is the variable scope for the safety of my variables?
Sometimes I’m using more than one activity in question in one workflow, but invoke GetAppCredentials.xaml only once and “share” the SecureString in the wider scope. Do I need to build small sequences where I get credentials and execute the activity and have the SecureString only in that very small scope? If so, what are the benefits to that beside, pleasing the Workflow Analyzer?
Sorry again for the revival of this ghost of the past.
Cheers
EDIT: As this thread seems indeed dead, I have opened a new topic regarding this issue here: Best Practice SecureString in plain string credential property fields