S3885 — "Assembly.Load" should be used

Language
C#
Type
Code smell
Severity
Major
Tags
unpredictable

Why is this an issue?

The parameter to Assembly.Load includes the full specification of the dll to be loaded. Use another method, and you might end up with a dll other than the one you expected.

This rule raises an issue when Assembly.LoadFrom, Assembly.LoadFile, or Assembly.LoadWithPartialName is called.

Exceptions

The rule does not raise an issue when the methods are used within an AssemblyResolve event handler. In this context, using Assembly.Load can cause a StackOverflowException due to recursive event firing, making Assembly.LoadFrom or Assembly.LoadFile the appropriate choices.


static void Main()
{
    AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve += OnAssemblyResolve;
}

static Assembly OnAssemblyResolve(object sender, ResolveEventArgs args)
{
    return Assembly.LoadFrom("MyAssembly.dll"); // Compliant: within AssemblyResolve handler
}

How to fix it

Code examples

Noncompliant code example


static void Main(string[] args)
{
    Assembly.LoadFrom("MyAssembly.dll"); // Noncompliant
}


static void Main(string[] args)
{
    Assembly.LoadFile(@"C:\MyPath\MyAssembly.dll"); // Noncompliant
}


static void Main(string[] args)
{
    Assembly.LoadWithPartialName("MyAssembly"); // Noncompliant
}

Compliant solution


static void Main(string[] args)
{
    Assembly.Load("MyAssembly, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null"); // Compliant
}


static void Main(string[] args)
{
    Assembly.Load("MyAssembly, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null"); // Compliant
}


static void Main(string[] args)
{
    Assembly.Load("MyAssembly, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null"); // Compliant
}

Resources

Documentation

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