What’s the status of CAT.NET?

Question

I’m trying to find Microsoft CAT.NET for VS2010 and it looks like there was a beta of their 2.0 version but every link to it in Microsoft Connect is now dead. This is the most recent reference I could find: http://blogs.msdn.com/securitytools/archive/2010/02/05/how-to-use-cat-net-2-0-beta.aspx

Some references suggest it may have been rolled into FxCop. Does anyone know the status of the project?

score 15 · Answer 1 · edited Aug 09 '11 at 17:23

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While they haven't released the new version, the good news is you can still use the old Add-in for CAT.NET 1.1.1.9 in Visual Studio 2010. All that is required is editing the default AddIn file to tell it to support the new version.

The file is installed to: %APPDATA%\Microsoft\MSEnvShared\Addins\Microsoft.ACESec.CATNet.AddIn. You can open it in a text editor and add a new node for <version>10.0</version>

After you edit the file, just restart Visual Studio and you should be all set.

If the AddIn file is not there, it should be in one of the locations specified in you VS Settings under Tools > Options > Environment > Add-ins / Macro Security.

edited Aug 09 '11 at 17:23

Abel

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answered Jun 27 '11 at 19:27

Joe Blazek

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Note that there can be different locations for the addins, depending on your installation. By default, VS looks at four locations, but these locations need not exist and you can edit them yourself. In what location you put the addin is eventually not relevant to VS. – Abel Aug 09 '11 at 17:24
This no longer works with VS2015, as AddIn support has been depreciated. It would be great if CAT.NET was still available. – Sam Makin Aug 25 '15 at 14:41

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 20 '22 at 09:13

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Unfortunately it looks like the answer to my question is "In a perpetual state of limbo". Back in June there was a last minute design issue right before it was intended to be released.

In answer to my question on MSDN about the status I was told the same thing and that was now almost five months ago. There are a series of impatient follow-ups by the community on that thread and not a single word from Microsoft nor is there any update on the MSDN Security Tools page.

Don't hold your breath folks!

edited Jan 20 '22 at 09:13

Glorfindel

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answered Nov 10 '10 at 21:29

Troy Hunt

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Still nothing - and the 1.1 version doesnt work in the latest VS release - sad times. – Sam Makin Aug 25 '15 at 14:42

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered May 12 '13 at 12:52

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On the topic of Cat.Net, checkout my 15+ Cat.NET blogs posts: http://blog.diniscruz.com/search/label/CatNet

In there you will see that there is a lot happening on the Cat.NET front (outside Microsoft :) )

answered May 12 '13 at 12:52

Dinis Cruz

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score 2 · Answer 4 · edited Sep 20 '22 at 08:10

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Here us the Forum - http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-AU/catnet/threads

Here is where they make comments on Dev and QA - Link

Here is where you download it - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=e0052bba-2d50-4214-b65b-37e5ef44f146&displaylang=en

That is the 64 bit version. I found it ran without throwing a 'Out of memory Exception' that i got from the 32 bit version, but only comes in cmd line form

The 32 bit version snaps into VS2008 but hasn't been made ready for integration into VS2010

Note: I've been trying to get the 2.0 Beta today and haven't had an luck, as you said the links are all broken and the email address for the team is bouncing.

edited Sep 20 '22 at 08:10

Glorfindel

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answered Jun 16 '10 at 04:26

Jiminy

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Thanks Jiminy, I hit the same brick walls as you in terms of trying to locate 2.0. As per the original question, I'm after VS2010 compatibility so 1.0 won't cut it. I've left the same question on the MSDN forum here: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-AU/catnet/thread/31663b6d-254e-48ce-8345-3355cb8b6023 – Troy Hunt Jun 18 '10 at 22:21

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 02 '10 at 00:16

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Any news on this? The MSDN forums don't have any updates

It seems that the best option is to use the v1.x version (the 32bit is here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0178E2EF-9DA8-445E-9348-C93F24CC9F9D&displaylang=en)

answered Aug 02 '10 at 00:16

Dinis Cruz

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 19 '14 at 15:49

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Any further updates on this? It appears that the CAT.Net development is dropped by Microsoft. Few of the links that are available are broken. Has Microsoft dropped this development in favor of some other tools, any information on this would be helpful.

answered Aug 19 '14 at 15:49

user527614

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I havent been able to find anything with rules as good as CAT.NET. It is a shame it was forgotten. – Sam Makin Aug 25 '15 at 14:43
I was thinking the other day of a cool idea to create a Azure service to run cat.net has a service, since in principle that engine should still work with new versions of .NET. – Dinis Cruz Dec 31 '15 at 12:36

What’s the status of CAT.NET?

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