How Can I Impersonate Users in .NET Applications?

User Impersonation in .NET Applications

.NET offers powerful tools for executing code under a specific user account, a process known as impersonation. This involves two key aspects: the impersonation mechanism itself and accessing the target user account's credentials.

The Impersonation Process

The System.Security.Principal namespace provides the necessary APIs. A modern and efficient approach utilizes WindowsIdentity.RunImpersonated. This method takes a user token handle and a delegate (or lambda expression) containing the code to run under the impersonated user's context.

WindowsIdentity.RunImpersonated(userHandle, () =>
{
    // Code executed as the impersonated user
});

Accessing User Credentials

While the native Win32 LogonUser API can be used to obtain a user account's token using username and password, employing a managed wrapper like SimpleImpersonation is strongly advised for improved security and error handling.

using SimpleImpersonation;

var credentials = new UserCredentials(domain, username, password);
using SafeAccessTokenHandle userHandle = credentials.LogonUser(LogonType.Interactive);

Important Considerations and Limitations

Impersonation is inherently restricted to the local machine. Accessing resources on a remote machine necessitates that both machines reside within the same domain or share a trust relationship. This approach is unsuitable for impersonating users on domainless systems.

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