Restrict plugin access to file system and network via appdomain

Solution 1:

For .net framework 4.0, please follow the following code from this MSDN article.

The following example implements the procedure in the previous section. In the example, a project named Sandboxer in a Visual Studio solution also contains a project named UntrustedCode, which implements the class UntrustedClass. This scenario assumes that you have downloaded a library assembly containing a method that is expected to return true or false to indicate whether the number you provided is a Fibonacci number. Instead, the method attempts to read a file from your computer. The following example shows the untrusted code.

using System;
using System.IO;
namespace UntrustedCode
{
    public class UntrustedClass
    {
        // Pretend to be a method checking if a number is a Fibonacci
        // but which actually attempts to read a file.
        public static bool IsFibonacci(int number)
        {
           File.ReadAllText("C:\\Temp\\file.txt");
           return false;
        }
    }
}

The following example shows the Sandboxer application code that executes the untrusted code.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;
using System.Security;
using System.Security.Policy;
using System.Security.Permissions;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Runtime.Remoting;

//The Sandboxer class needs to derive from MarshalByRefObject so that we can create it in another 
// AppDomain and refer to it from the default AppDomain.
class Sandboxer : MarshalByRefObject
{
    const string pathToUntrusted = @"..\..\..\UntrustedCode\bin\Debug";
    const string untrustedAssembly = "UntrustedCode";
    const string untrustedClass = "UntrustedCode.UntrustedClass";
    const string entryPoint = "IsFibonacci";
    private static Object[] parameters = { 45 };
    static void Main()
    {
        //Setting the AppDomainSetup. It is very important to set the ApplicationBase to a folder 
        //other than the one in which the sandboxer resides.
        AppDomainSetup adSetup = new AppDomainSetup();
        adSetup.ApplicationBase = Path.GetFullPath(pathToUntrusted);

        //Setting the permissions for the AppDomain. We give the permission to execute and to 
        //read/discover the location where the untrusted code is loaded.
        PermissionSet permSet = new PermissionSet(PermissionState.None);
        permSet.AddPermission(new SecurityPermission(SecurityPermissionFlag.Execution));

        //We want the sandboxer assembly's strong name, so that we can add it to the full trust list.
        StrongName fullTrustAssembly = typeof(Sandboxer).Assembly.Evidence.GetHostEvidence<StrongName>();

        //Now we have everything we need to create the AppDomain, so let's create it.
        AppDomain newDomain = AppDomain.CreateDomain("Sandbox", null, adSetup, permSet, fullTrustAssembly);

        //Use CreateInstanceFrom to load an instance of the Sandboxer class into the
        //new AppDomain. 
        ObjectHandle handle = Activator.CreateInstanceFrom(
            newDomain, typeof(Sandboxer).Assembly.ManifestModule.FullyQualifiedName,
            typeof(Sandboxer).FullName
            );
        //Unwrap the new domain instance into a reference in this domain and use it to execute the 
        //untrusted code.
        Sandboxer newDomainInstance = (Sandboxer) handle.Unwrap();
        newDomainInstance.ExecuteUntrustedCode(untrustedAssembly, untrustedClass, entryPoint, parameters);
    }
    public void ExecuteUntrustedCode(string assemblyName, string typeName, string entryPoint, Object[] parameters)
    {
        //Load the MethodInfo for a method in the new Assembly. This might be a method you know, or 
        //you can use Assembly.EntryPoint to get to the main function in an executable.
        MethodInfo target = Assembly.Load(assemblyName).GetType(typeName).GetMethod(entryPoint);
        try
        {
            //Now invoke the method.
            bool retVal = (bool)target.Invoke(null, parameters);
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            // When we print informations from a SecurityException extra information can be printed if we are 
            //calling it with a full-trust stack.
            (new PermissionSet(PermissionState.Unrestricted)).Assert();
            Console.WriteLine("SecurityException caught:\n{0}", ex.ToString());
            CodeAccessPermission.RevertAssert();
            Console.ReadLine();
        }
    }
}

Solution 2:

I guess this is what you need, if I understand correctly your point.

System.Security.PermissionSet ps = 
    new System.Security.PermissionSet(System.Security.Permissions.PermissionState.None);
ps.AddPermission(new System.Security.Permissions.FileIOPermission(System.Security.Permissions.FileIOPermissionAccess.NoAccess, "C:\\"));
System.Security.Policy.PolicyLevel pl = System.Security.Policy.PolicyLevel.CreateAppDomainLevel();
pl.RootCodeGroup.PolicyStatement = new System.Security.Policy.PolicyStatement(ps);
AppDomain.CurrentDomain.SetAppDomainPolicy(pl);
System.Reflection.Assembly myPluginAssembly = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.Load("MyPluginAssembly");

Is this more precisely what you meant?

Notice that you may provide an array of string containg the paths where you don't want the plugin to have access. You may provide if when initializing the new instance of FileIOPermission class.

Let me know if this helps. :-)