Data Execution Prevention kills (VS2008) the local ASP.Net development server (aka Cassini) on Vista 64

Question

Sometimes I find that when debugging an ASP.Net application (written in Visual Studio 2008, running on a 64-bit version of Vista), the local ASP.Net development server (that is, "Cassini") stops responding.

It is often reported that "Data Provision Prevention (DEP)" killed WebDev.WebServer.exe

Event logs just tell me that "WebDev.WebServer.exe stops working"

I heard that this “problem” most often appears in Vista 64-bit, because DEP is enabled by default. Therefore, enabling DEP can "solve" the problem.

But I wonder:

Is there a known bug / situation with Cassini that causes DEP to kill the process?

Alternatively, what is the practical danger of disabling data execution prevention?

Answer 1

The only way to know for sure is to dig through the source of Cassini and see if there are any areas where it generates code on the heap and then executes it without clearing the NX flag.

However, instead, why not use IIS?

EDIT:

The danger of disabling DEP is that you open security holes. DEP works by not allowing arbitrary generated code to execute on the heap. This helps prevent malware from being included in legitimate data segments.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

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Answer 4

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