Why debugging ASP.net can potentially harm your computer?

Question

When I try to attach the w3wp.exe process in order to debug asp.net process, a pop-up alerts me that this "can potentially harm your computer".

enter image description here

I just wonder why.

It doesn't harm your computer. This is windows generated message to make you inform about accessing an exe that is unknown to it. — Dev, Dec 14 '12 at 11:07
@a_maar - What do you mean exactly? This message is displayed when you attempt to debug ANY file. — Security Hound, Dec 14 '12 at 11:34

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:51

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Are you by any chance NOT running visual studio as Administrator? Visual studio needs to be running as Administrator to attach to the ASP.NET worker process without popping up that warning.

EDIT: Looks like this issue is answered in this SO post

edited May 23 '17 at 11:51

Community

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answered Dec 14 '12 at 11:07

levelnis

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Yes, I'm adminmistrator it's showed in the image attached. – anmarti Dec 14 '12 at 11:08
Yes, but are you explicitly running VS as administrator? Even if you are logged in as an administrator, VS doesn't run with elevated privileges by default – levelnis Dec 14 '12 at 11:10
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Yes, in VS title bar is showed `(Aministrator)` – anmarti Dec 14 '12 at 11:13

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 14 '12 at 11:23

IIRC, some older trojans/viruses used debug attachment as a mean to hook into other programs/services.

Nowadays you get a warning. Focus here is not on the words 'harm your computer'. It asks you to check if the process listed is what you'd expect. Imagine that popping asking to debug chrome.exe or skype.exe when you was just idling. That would make me freak out for sure.

Why debugging ASP.net can potentially harm your computer?

2 Answers2