Upgrade from .NET 6 to 7, Microsoft.AspNetCore.DataProtection Missing Method Exception

Published Reading time

With every .NET release, there are usually some gotcha moments along the way.
In this article, we will resolve a Microsoft.AspNetCore.DataProtection Missing Method Exception.

Use Case

I have an AspNet Core Identity project on GitHub where I was testing generating an email confirmation token for a user.

The Test Project

The working test project targets both net6.0 and net7.0.

  <ItemGroup Condition=" '$(TargetFramework)' == 'net7.0' ">
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Identity.Core" Version="7.0.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Identity.Stores" Version="7.0.0" />

    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection" Version="7.0.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration" Version="7.0.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.Json" Version="7.0.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.EnvironmentVariables" Version="7.0.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Options.ConfigurationExtensions" Version="7.0.0" />
  </ItemGroup>

  <ItemGroup Condition=" '$(TargetFramework)' == 'net6.0' ">
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Identity.Core" Version="6.0.8" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Identity.Stores" Version="6.0.8" />

    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection" Version="6.0.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration" Version="6.0.1" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.Json" Version="6.0.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.EnvironmentVariables" Version="6.0.1" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Options.ConfigurationExtensions" Version="6.0.0" />
  </ItemGroup>

The Test in Question

The full test is Email Confirmed but the line in question uses the Identity UserManager to generate an email confirmation token.

    //Abbrevating code for simplicity
    var token = await UserManager<TUser>.GenerateEmailConfirmationTokenAsync(user).ConfigureAwait(false);

The net6.0 test worked fine, the net7.0 test threw the exception below.

Message:

System.Security.Cryptography.CryptographicException : An error occurred while trying to encrypt the provided data. Refer to the inner exception for more information.
---- System.MissingMethodException : Method not found: 'Boolean Microsoft.AspNetCore.Cryptography.UnsafeNativeMethods.CryptProtectData(Microsoft.AspNetCore.Cryptography.DATA_BLOB*, IntPtr, Microsoft.AspNetCore.Cryptography.DATA_BLOB*, IntPtr, IntPtr, UInt32, Microsoft.AspNetCore.Cryptography.DATA_BLOB ByRef)'.

Stack Trace:

KeyRingBasedDataProtector.Protect(Byte[] plaintext)
DataProtectorTokenProvider`1.GenerateAsync(String purpose, UserManager`1 manager, TUser user)
BaseUserStoreTests`4.EmailConfirmed() line 137
--- End of stack trace from previous location ---
----- Inner Stack Trace -----
DpapiSecretSerializerHelper.ProtectWithDpapiCore(Byte* pbSecret, UInt32 cbSecret, Byte* pbOptionalEntropy, UInt32 cbOptionalEntropy, Boolean fLocalMachine)
DpapiSecretSerializerHelper.ProtectWithDpapi(ISecret secret, Boolean protectToLocalMachine)
DpapiXmlEncryptor.Encrypt(XElement plaintextElement)
XmlEncryptionExtensions.EncryptIfNecessary(IXmlEncryptor encryptor, XElement element)
IInternalXmlKeyManager.CreateNewKey(Guid keyId, DateTimeOffset creationDate, DateTimeOffset activationDate, DateTimeOffset expirationDate)
XmlKeyManager.CreateNewKey(DateTimeOffset activationDate, DateTimeOffset expirationDate)
KeyRingProvider.CreateCacheableKeyRingCore(DateTimeOffset now, IKey keyJustAdded)
ICacheableKeyRingProvider.GetCacheableKeyRing(DateTimeOffset now)
KeyRingProvider.GetCurrentKeyRingCore(DateTime utcNow)
KeyRingProvider.GetCurrentKeyRing()
KeyRingBasedDataProtector.Protect(Byte[] plaintext)

The Fix

Just add the package Microsoft.AspNetCore.DataProtection explicitly to the .NET 7 target.

<ItemGroup Condition=" '$(TargetFramework)' == 'net7.0' ">
...
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.AspNetCore.DataProtection" Version="7.0.0" />
</ItemGroup>

Summary

This was a quick example of how to fix one of those .NET upgrade gotchas.

the cloud way