Getting an array of bytes out of Windows::Storage::Streams::IBuffer

You can use IBufferByteAccess, through exotic COM casts:

byte* GetPointerToPixelData(IBuffer^ buffer)
{
   // Cast to Object^, then to its underlying IInspectable interface.

   Object^ obj = buffer;
   ComPtr<IInspectable> insp(reinterpret_cast<IInspectable*>(obj));

   // Query the IBufferByteAccess interface.
   ComPtr<IBufferByteAccess> bufferByteAccess;
   ThrowIfFailed(insp.As(&bufferByteAccess));

   // Retrieve the buffer data.

   byte* pixels = nullptr;
   ThrowIfFailed(bufferByteAccess->Buffer(&pixels));

   return pixels;

}

Code sample copied from http://cm-bloggers.blogspot.fi/2012/09/accessing-image-pixel-data-in-ccx.html

Also check this method:

IBuffer -> Platform::Array
CryptographicBuffer.CopyToByteArray

Platform::Array -> IBuffer
CryptographicBuffer.CreateFromByteArray

As a side note, if you want to create Platform::Array from simple C++ array you could use Platform::ArrayReference, for example:

char* c = "sdsd";
Platform::ArrayReference<unsigned char> arraywrapper((unsigned char*) c, sizeof(c));

This is a C++/CX version:

std::vector<unsigned char> getData( ::Windows::Storage::Streams::IBuffer^ buf )
{
    auto reader = ::Windows::Storage::Streams::DataReader::FromBuffer(buf);

    std::vector<unsigned char> data(reader->UnconsumedBufferLength);

    if ( !data.empty() )
        reader->ReadBytes(
            ::Platform::ArrayReference<unsigned char>(
                &data[0], data.size()));

    return data;
}

For more information see Array and WriteOnlyArray (C++/CX).

As mentioned before, WindowsRuntimeBufferExtensions from the namespace System::Runtime::InteropServices::WindowsRuntime is only available for .Net applications and not for native C++ applications.

A possible solution would be to use Windows::Storage::Streams::DataReader:

void process(Windows::Storage::Streams::IBuffer^ uselessBuffer)
{
    Windows::Storage::Streams::DataReader^ uselessReader =
             Windows::Storage::Streams::DataReader::FromBuffer(uselessBuffer);
    Platform::Array<Byte>^ managedBytes = 
                         ref new Platform::Array<Byte>(uselessBuffer->Length);
    uselessReader->ReadBytes( managedBytes );                               
    BYTE * bytes = new BYTE[uselessBuffer->Length];
    for(int i = 0; i < uselessBuffer->Length; i++)
        bytes[i] = managedBytes[i];

    (...)
}

This should work with WinRT extensions:

// Windows::Storage::Streams::DataReader
// buffer is assumed to be of type Windows::Storage::Streams::IBuffer
// BYTE = unsigned char

DataReader^ reader = DataReader::FromBuffer(buffer);

BYTE *extracted = new BYTE[buffer->Length];

// NOTE: This will read directly into the allocated "extracted" buffer
reader->ReadBytes(Platform::ArrayReference<BYTE>(extracted, buffer->Length));

// ... do something with extracted...

delete [] extracted; // don't forget to free the space