Transfer or serialize assembly

Question

I need a way to transfer a compiled assembly from client to the server and be able to store that in the database or in a file in such a way that I can grab those bytes on the "to" side and re-load assembly. Is there a way to do it. To clarify, I have a winforms application that will generate code and compile it based on some metadata. Now I need to be able to transfer this to a web site and store it somehow, but I don't want a dll (because it can be de-compiled). I would then have a "server" program on the to side, that would load this in memory. I could just transfer encrypted source code, but I thought I could just transfer compiled assembly.

More info: Even on the "from" side, there is not file generated, it is compiled in memory, so physical dll is never created.

Answer 1

How about you transfer an encrypted DLL?

Answer 2

You could use public key cryptography.

The client side would use the public key to encrypt the bytes comprising the assembly. These bytes would be stored in the database - completely useless to anyone not in posession of the private key. The server can then read in these bytes, decrypt them with the private key, and reconstitute the assembly from the decrypted byte stream.

Since you're using public key cryptography, even if the client is compromised your secret (the private key) is safe because it is stored on the server.

To learn more about this technique, I would recommend reading this.

HTH, Kent

Answer 3

It sounds like you want to serialize your compiled assembly, from/to memory, and transfer that to the server, where it gets deserialized into an assembly again.

Answer 4

I suggest you use a Binary Serializer and pipe that stream into a CryptoStream that can be setup to a particular encryption model. Then take the output stream and dump that to your location. On the running end of your process your Decrypt it and Deserialize it. If you wanted you could also use a DeflateStream if your Assembly is large enough, this will save some space.

Hope this helps. If you would like examples let me know.