Scripts - Security Considerations

• Nov 21, 2024
• 3 minutes to read

This document addresses security implications related to report scripts and describes how to negate security risks.

Important

Report scripts are not secure. We recommend that you use expression bindings to customize your reports. Only enable scripts if you trust your reports and you are in a situation where you cannot use expression bindings.

Script Execution Modes

The following table lists the available script execution modes and their default values for each target platform:

Execution Mode	Description	Enabled In
Deny (Recommended)	Denies script execution. In this mode, the Report Designer hides the Scripts Editor and does not list script events in the Properties window. The Document Viewer opens the report and does not run the attached scripts.	ASP.NET Web Forms Document Viewer and Report Designer ASP.NET MVC Document Viewer and Report Designer ASP.NET Core Document Viewer and Report Designer
Unrestricted	Enables script execution at your own risk.	WinForms Document Viewer and Report Designer WPF Document Preview and Report Designer Cross-platform print and export methods of the XtraReport class
Restricted	Obsolete. Use the Deny mode instead to ensure report security. Use the Unrestricted mode in a trusted environment only.

If you enable report scripts, users are at risk of running malicious code on their machines. In web applications, scripts are disabled out-of-the-box because scripts run on the server and the risk is higher.

We recommend that you enable the Deny mode in any application to avoid potential security threats. To do this, register a ScriptPermissionManager class instance at application startup and pass the ExecutionMode.Deny value as the constructor parameter.

ASP.NET MVC

Global.asax.cs

using DevExpress.XtraReports.Security;
// ...

ScriptPermissionManager.GlobalInstance = new ScriptPermissionManager(ExecutionMode.Deny);

Global.asax.vb

Imports DevExpress.XtraReports.Security
' ...

ScriptPermissionManager.GlobalInstance = New ScriptPermissionManager(ExecutionMode.Deny)

ASP.NET Core

Program.cs

using DevExpress.XtraReports.Security;

ScriptPermissionManager.GlobalInstance = new ScriptPermissionManager(ExecutionMode.Deny);

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
// ...

Multi-User Environment Specifics

In a multi-user application, you can share your reports with other users. Reports scripts can run on server and client machines. To protect other users and yourself, we recommend that you do the following:

• Set the Deny script execution mode on all machines at application startup.

  C#

  using DevExpress.XtraReports.Security;
  // ...
  
  ScriptPermissionManager.GlobalInstance = new ScriptPermissionManager(ExecutionMode.Deny);
  

  VB.NET

  Imports DevExpress.XtraReports.Security
  ' ...
  
  ScriptPermissionManager.GlobalInstance = New ScriptPermissionManager(ExecutionMode.Deny)
  

• Remove the script code from the report definition files when you save them. To do this, set the XtraReport.ScriptsSource property to an empty string in the method that saves the report in your report storage.

  C#

  using DevExpress.XtraReports.Extensions;
  using DevExpress.XtraReports.UI;
  using System.IO;
  
  class MyReportStorage: ReportStorageExtension {
      // ...
      public void SetData(byte[] reportBytes, string reportName){
          var reportLayout = ClearReportScripts(reportBytes);
          File.WriteAllBytes(reportName, reportLayout);
      }
  
      public byte[] ClearReportScripts(byte[] reportBytes) {
          using (var stream = new MemoryStream(reportBytes)) {
              var report = XtraReport.FromStream(stream);
              report.ScriptsSource = "";
              using (var streamToSave = new MemoryStream()) {
                  report.SaveLayoutToXml(streamToSave);
                  return streamToSave.ToArray();
              }
          }
      }
  }
  

  VB.NET

  Imports DevExpress.XtraReports.Extensions
  Imports DevExpress.XtraReports.UI
  Imports System.IO
  
  Class MyReportStorage
      Inherits ReportStorageExtension
  
      ' ...
      Public Sub SetData(ByVal reportBytes As Byte(), ByVal reportName As String)
          Dim reportLayout = ClearReportScripts(reportBytes)
          File.WriteAllBytes(reportName, reportLayout)
      End Sub
  
      Public Function ClearReportScripts(ByVal reportBytes As Byte()) As Byte()
          Using stream = New MemoryStream(reportBytes)
              Dim report = XtraReport.FromStream(stream)
              report.ScriptsSource = ""
  
              Using streamToSave = New MemoryStream()
                  report.SaveLayoutToXml(streamToSave)
                  Return streamToSave.ToArray()
              End Using
          End Using
      End Function
  End Class