Add Compression best practices guide

docs/fundamentals/toc.yml

@@ -967,6 +967,8 @@ items:
                 href: ../standard/io/how-to-add-or-remove-access-control-list-entries.md
               - name: "How to: Compress and Extract Files"
                 href: ../standard/io/how-to-compress-and-extract-files.md
+              - name: ZIP and TAR best practices
+                href: ../standard/io/zip-tar-best-practices.md
               - name: Composing Streams
                 href: ../standard/io/composing-streams.md
               - name: "How to: Convert Between .NET Framework Streams and Windows Runtime Streams"

docs/standard/io/snippets/zip-tar-best-practices/csharp/Program.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,254 @@
+using System.Formats.Tar;
+using System.IO.Compression;
+// <SafeExtractEntry>
+void SafeExtractEntry(ZipArchiveEntry entry, string destinationPath, long maxDecompressedSize)
+{
+    // Check the declared uncompressed size first (can be spoofed, but is a fast first check).
+    if (entry.Length > maxDecompressedSize)
+    {
+        throw new InvalidOperationException(
+            $"Entry '{entry.FullName}' declares size {entry.Length}, exceeding limit {maxDecompressedSize}.");
+    }
+
+    using Stream source = entry.Open();
+    using FileStream destination = File.Create(destinationPath);
+
+    byte[] buffer = new byte[81920];
+    long totalBytesRead = 0;
+    int bytesRead;
+
+    while ((bytesRead = source.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) > 0)
+    {
+        totalBytesRead += bytesRead;
+        if (totalBytesRead > maxDecompressedSize)
+        {
+            throw new InvalidOperationException(
+                $"Extraction of '{entry.FullName}' exceeded limit of {maxDecompressedSize} bytes.");
+        }
+        destination.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
+    }
+}
+// </SafeExtractEntry>
+
+// <SafeExtractArchive>
+void SafeExtractArchive(ZipArchive archive, string destinationDir,
+    long maxTotalSize, int maxEntryCount)
+{
+    // Some zip bombs contain millions of tiny entries (e.g., "42.zip").
+    if (archive.Entries.Count > maxEntryCount)
+    {
+        throw new InvalidOperationException("Archive contains an excessive number of entries.");
+    }
+
+    long totalExtracted = 0;
+    foreach (ZipArchiveEntry entry in archive.Entries)
+    {
+        totalExtracted += entry.Length;
+        if (totalExtracted > maxTotalSize)
+        {
+            throw new InvalidOperationException(
+                $"Archive total decompressed size exceeds the allowed limit of {maxTotalSize} bytes.");
+        }
+        // ... extract each entry with per-entry limits too
+    }
+}
+// </SafeExtractArchive>
+
+// <PathValidation>
+void ValidatePaths(ZipArchive archive, string destinationDir)
+{
+    string fullDestDir = Path.GetFullPath(destinationDir);
+    if (!fullDestDir.EndsWith(Path.DirectorySeparatorChar))
+        fullDestDir += Path.DirectorySeparatorChar;
+
+    foreach (ZipArchiveEntry entry in archive.Entries)
+    {
+        string destPath = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(fullDestDir, entry.FullName));
+
+        if (!destPath.StartsWith(fullDestDir, StringComparison.Ordinal))
+            throw new IOException(
+                $"Entry '{entry.FullName}' would extract outside the destination directory.");
+
+        // ... safe to extract
+    }
+}
+// </PathValidation>
+
+// <VulnerablePattern>
+void DangerousExtract(string extractDir)
+{
+    // ⚠️ DANGEROUS: entry.FullName could contain "../" sequences
+    using ZipArchive archive = ZipFile.OpenRead("archive.zip");
+    foreach (ZipArchiveEntry entry in archive.Entries)
+    {
+        string destinationPath = Path.Combine(extractDir, entry.FullName);
+        entry.ExtractToFile(destinationPath, overwrite: true); // NO path validation!
+    }
+}
+// </VulnerablePattern>
+
+// <SafeExtractZip>
+void SafeExtractZip(string archivePath, string destinationDir,
+    long maxTotalSize, long maxEntrySize, int maxEntryCount)
+{
+    // Resolve the destination to an absolute path and ensure it ends with a
+    // directory separator. This trailing separator is essential — without it,
+    // the StartsWith check below could be tricked by paths like
+    // "/safe-dir-evil/" matching "/safe-dir".
+    string fullDestDir = Path.GetFullPath(destinationDir);
+    if (!fullDestDir.EndsWith(Path.DirectorySeparatorChar))
+        fullDestDir += Path.DirectorySeparatorChar;
+
+    Directory.CreateDirectory(fullDestDir);
+
+    using var archive = new ZipArchive(File.OpenRead(archivePath), ZipArchiveMode.Read);
+
+    // Check the entry count up front. ZIP central directory is read eagerly,
+    // so archive.Entries.Count is available immediately without iterating.
+    if (archive.Entries.Count > maxEntryCount)
+        throw new InvalidOperationException("Archive contains too many entries.");
+
+    long totalSize = 0;
+    foreach (ZipArchiveEntry entry in archive.Entries)
+    {
+        // Enforce per-entry and cumulative size limits using the declared
+        // uncompressed size. Note: this value is read from the archive header
+        // and could be spoofed by a malicious archive — for defense in depth,
+        // also monitor actual bytes read during decompression (see the zip
+        // bomb section for a streaming size check example).
+        totalSize += entry.Length;
+        if (entry.Length > maxEntrySize)
+            throw new InvalidOperationException(
+                $"Entry '{entry.FullName}' exceeds per-entry size limit.");
+        if (totalSize > maxTotalSize)
+            throw new InvalidOperationException("Archive exceeds total size limit.");
+
+        // Resolve the full destination path using Path.GetFullPath, which
+        // normalizes away any "../" segments. Then verify the result still
+        // starts with the destination directory.
+        string destPath = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(fullDestDir, entry.FullName));
+        if (!destPath.StartsWith(fullDestDir, StringComparison.Ordinal))
+            throw new IOException(
+                $"Entry '{entry.FullName}' would extract outside the destination.");
+
+        // ZIP uses a convention where directory entries have names ending in '/'.
+        // Path.GetFileName returns empty for these, so we use that to
+        // distinguish directories from files.
+        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(Path.GetFileName(destPath)))
+        {
+            Directory.CreateDirectory(destPath);
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            // Ensure the parent directory exists before extracting the file.
+            Directory.CreateDirectory(Path.GetDirectoryName(destPath)!);
+            entry.ExtractToFile(destPath, overwrite: false);
+        }
+    }
+}
+// </SafeExtractZip>
+
+// <SafeExtractTar>
+void SafeExtractTar(Stream archiveStream, string destinationDir,
+    long maxTotalSize, long maxEntrySize, int maxEntryCount)
+{
+    // Same trailing-separator technique as the ZIP example.
+    string fullDestDir = Path.GetFullPath(destinationDir);
+    if (!fullDestDir.EndsWith(Path.DirectorySeparatorChar))
+        fullDestDir += Path.DirectorySeparatorChar;
+
+    Directory.CreateDirectory(fullDestDir);
+
+    using var reader = new TarReader(archiveStream);
+    TarEntry? entry;
+    long totalSize = 0;
+    int entryCount = 0;
+
+    // TAR has no central directory — entries are read one at a time.
+    // GetNextEntry() returns null when the archive is exhausted.
+    while ((entry = reader.GetNextEntry()) is not null)
+    {
+        if (++entryCount > maxEntryCount)
+            throw new InvalidOperationException("Archive contains too many entries.");
+
+        if (entry.Length > maxEntrySize)
+            throw new InvalidOperationException(
+                $"Entry '{entry.Name}' exceeds per-entry size limit.");
+        totalSize += entry.Length;
+        if (totalSize > maxTotalSize)
+            throw new InvalidOperationException("Archive exceeds total size limit.");
+
+        // Symbolic links and hard links can be used to write files outside the
+        // extraction directory or to overwrite sensitive files. The safest
+        // approach for untrusted input is to skip them entirely.
+        if (entry.EntryType is TarEntryType.SymbolicLink or TarEntryType.HardLink)
+            continue;
+
+        // Global extended attributes are PAX metadata entries that apply to all
+        // subsequent entries. They contain no file data and should be skipped.
+        if (entry.EntryType is TarEntryType.GlobalExtendedAttributes)
+            continue;
+
+        // Normalize and validate the path, same as the ZIP example.
+        string destPath = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Join(fullDestDir, entry.Name));
+        if (!destPath.StartsWith(fullDestDir, StringComparison.Ordinal))
+            throw new IOException(
+                $"Entry '{entry.Name}' would extract outside the destination.");
+
+        if (entry.EntryType is TarEntryType.Directory)
+        {
+            Directory.CreateDirectory(destPath);
+        }
+        else if (entry.DataStream is not null)
+        {
+            // For file entries, copy the data stream to a new file.
+            // We use entry.DataStream directly instead of ExtractToFile because
+            // ExtractToFile rejects symbolic and hard link entries (already
+            // filtered above) and requires a file path rather than a stream.
+            Directory.CreateDirectory(Path.GetDirectoryName(destPath)!);
+            using var fileStream = File.Create(destPath);
+            entry.DataStream.CopyTo(fileStream);
+        }
+    }
+}
+// </SafeExtractTar>
+
+// <StreamingApproach>
+void StreamingModify()
+{
+    // ✅ Streaming approach for large archives
+    using var input = new ZipArchive(File.OpenRead("large.zip"), ZipArchiveMode.Read);
+    using var output = new ZipArchive(File.Create("modified.zip"), ZipArchiveMode.Create);
+
+    foreach (var entry in input.Entries)
+    {
+        if (ShouldKeep(entry))
+        {
+            var newEntry = output.CreateEntry(entry.FullName);
+            using var src = entry.Open();
+            using var dst = newEntry.Open();
+            src.CopyTo(dst);
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+bool ShouldKeep(ZipArchiveEntry entry) => true;
+// </StreamingApproach>
+
+// <TarStreaming>
+void TarStreamingRead(Stream archiveStream)
+{
+    using var reader = new TarReader(archiveStream);
+    TarEntry? entry;
+    while ((entry = reader.GetNextEntry()) is not null)
+    {
+        if (entry.DataStream is not null)
+        {
+            string safePath = "output.bin";
+            // Copy now — the stream becomes invalid after the next GetNextEntry() call
+            using var fileStream = File.Create(safePath);
+            entry.DataStream.CopyTo(fileStream);
+        }
+    }
+}
+// </TarStreaming>

docs/standard/io/snippets/zip-tar-best-practices/csharp/Project.csproj

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
+
+  <PropertyGroup>
+    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
+    <TargetFramework>net9.0</TargetFramework>
+    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
+    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+
+
+</Project>