I’ve been using PowerShell (core) for a couple of years now, and it became natural to create automations with all the features that are not present in Windows PowerShell. However, there is still one feature I miss in PowerShell, and this feature, for as silly as it sounds, is the GeneratePassword, from System.Web.Security.Membership.

This happens because this assembly was developed in .NET Framework, and not brought to .NET (core). Although there are multiple alternatives to achieve the same result, I thought this is the perfect opportunity to show the Power in PowerShell, and port this method from C#.

Method

We are going to get this method’s code by using an IL decompiler. C# is compiled to an Intermediate Language, which allows us to decompile it. The tool I’ll be using is ILSpy, and can be found on the Microsoft Store.

Getting the Code

Once installed, open ILSpy, click on File and Open from GAC…. On the search bar, type System.Web, select the assembly, and click Open.

Once loaded, expand the System.Web assembly tree, and the System.Web.Security namespace. Inside System.Web.Security, look for the Membership class, click on it, and the decompiled code should appear on the right pane.

Scroll down until you find the GeneratePassword method, and expand it.

Porting to PowerShell

Now the fun begins. Let’s do this using PowerShell tools only, means we’re not going to copy the Membership class and method. We are going to create a function, and keep the variable names the same, so it’s easier for us to compare.

• Starting with the method’s signature: public static string GeneratePassword(int lenght, int numberOfNonAlphanumericCharacters)
  • public means this method can be called from outside the assembly.
  • static means I can call this method without having to instantiate an object of type Membership.
  • string means this method returns a string.
• Utility methods and properties. GeneratePassword uses methods and properties that are also defined in the System.Web library.
  • Methods
  • System.Web.CrossSiteScriptingValidation.IsDangerousString(string s, out int matchIndex)
  • System.Web.CrossSiteScriptingValidation.IsAtoZ(char c)
  • Properties
  • char[] punctuations, from System.Web.Security.Membership
  • char[] startingChars, from System.Web.CrossSiteScriptingValidation

Now enough C#, let get to scripting.

Main function

For this, we are going to use the Advanced Function template, from Visual Studio Code. I’ll name the main function New-StrongPassword, but you can name it as you like, just remember using approved verbs.

This method takes as parameter two integer numbers, let’s create them in the param() block. The first two if statements are checks to ensure both parameters are within acceptable range. We can accomplish the same with parameter attributes.

function New-StrongPassword {

    [CmdletBinding()]
    param (

        # Number of characters.
        [Parameter(
            Mandatory,
            Position = 0,
            HelpMessage = 'The number of characters the password should have.'
        )]
        [ValidateRange(1, 128)]
        [int] $Length,

        # Number of non alpha-numeric chars.
        [Parameter(
            Mandatory,
            Position = 1,
            HelpMessage = 'The number of non alpha-numeric characters the password should contain.'
        )]
        [ValidateScript({
            if ($PSItem -gt $Length -or $PSItem -lt 0) {
                $newObjectSplat = @{
                    TypeName = 'System.ArgumentException'
                    ArgumentList = 'Membership minimum required non alpha-numeric characters is incorrect'
                }
                throw New-Object @newObjectSplat
            }
            return $true
        })]
        [int] $NumberOfNonAlphaNumericCharacters

    )

    begin {

    }

    process {

    }

    end {

    }
}

Utilities

Now let’s focus on the Begin{} block, and create those utility methods, and properties.

Properties

These are the two properties, in our case variables, that we need to create.

private static char[] startingChars = new char[2] { '<', '&' };
private static char[] punctuations = "!@#$%^&*()_-+=[{]};:>|./?".ToCharArray();

Let’s create them as global variables, to be used across our functions if necessary.

[char[]]$global:punctuations = @('!', '@', '#', '$', '%', '^', '&', '*', '(', ')', '_',
                                 '-', '+', '=', '[', '{', ']', '}', ';', ':', '>', '|',
                                 '.', '/', '?')
[char[]]$global:startingChars = @('<', '&')

Get-IsAtoZ

This is what the method looks like:

private static bool IsAtoZ(char c)
{
    if (c < 'a' || c > 'z')
    {
        if (c >= 'A')
        {
            return c <= 'Z';
        }
        return false;
    }
    return true;
}

Pretty simple method, with one parameter, only the operator’s name needs to change. Let’s use an inline function:

function Get-IsAToZ([char]$c) {
    if ($c -lt 'a' -or $c -gt 'z') {
        if ($c -ge 'A') {
            return $c -le 'Z'
        }
        return $false
    }
    return $true
}

Get-IsDangerousString

This is what the C# method looks like:

internal static bool IsDangerousString(string s, out int matchIndex)
{
    matchIndex = 0;
    int startIndex = 0;
    while (true)
    {
        int num = s.IndexOfAny(startingChars, startIndex);
        if (num < 0)
        {
            return false;
        }
        if (num == s.Length - 1)
        {
            break;
        }
        matchIndex = num;
        switch (s[num])
        {
        case '<':
            if (IsAtoZ(s[num + 1]) || s[num + 1] == '!' || s[num + 1] == '/' || s[num + 1] == '?')
            {
                return true;
            }
            break;
        case '&':
            if (s[num + 1] == '#')
            {
                return true;
            }
            break;
        }
        startIndex = num + 1;
    }
    return false;
}

This one is a little more extensive, but it’s pretty much only string manipulation. The interesting part of this method though, is the parameter matchIndex. Note the out keyword, this means this parameter is passed as reference. We could skip this parameter altogether, because is not used in our case, but this is a perfect opportunity to exercise the PSReference type.

function Get-IsDangerousString {

    param([string]$s, [ref]$matchIndex)

    # To access the referenced parameter's value, we use the 'Value' property from PSReference.
    $matchIndex.Value = 0
    $startIndex = 0

    while ($true) {
        $num = $s.IndexOfAny($global:startingChars, $startIndex)
        if ($num -lt 0) {
            return $false
        }
        if ($num -eq $s.Length - 1) {
            break
        }
        $matchIndex.Value = $num

        switch ($s[$num]) {
            '<' {
                if (
                    (Get-IsAToZ($s[$num + 1])) -or
                    ($s[$num + 1] -eq '!')     -or
                    ($s[$num + 1] -eq '/')     -or
                    ($s[$num + 1] -eq '?')
                ) {
                    return $true
                }
            }
            '&' {
                if ($s[$num + 1] -eq '#') {
                    return $true
                }
            }
        }
        $startIndex = $num + 1
    }
    return $false
}

With these, our Begin{} block looks like this:

Begin {
    [char[]]$global:punctuations = @('!', '@', '#', '$', '%', '^', '&', '*', '(', ')', '_',
                                     '-', '+', '=', '[', '{', ']', '}', ';', ':', '>', '|',
                                     '.', '/', '?')
    [char[]]$global:startingChars = @('<', '&')

    function Get-IsAToZ([char]$c) {
        if ($c -lt 'a' -or $c -gt 'z') {
            if ($c -ge 'A') {
                return $c -le 'Z'
            }
            return $false
        }
        return $true
    }

    function Get-IsDangerousString {

        param([string]$s, [ref]$matchIndex)

        $matchIndex.Value = 0
        $startIndex = 0

        while ($true) {
            $num = $s.IndexOfAny($global:startingChars, $startIndex)
            if ($num -lt 0) {
                return $false
            }
            if ($num -eq $s.Length - 1) {
                break
            }
            $matchIndex.Value = $num

            switch ($s[$num]) {
                '<' {
                    if (
                        (Get-IsAToZ($s[$num + 1])) -or
                        ($s[$num + 1] -eq '!')     -or
                        ($s[$num + 1] -eq '/')     -or
                        ($s[$num + 1] -eq '?')
                    ) {
                        return $true
                    }
                }
                '&' {
                    if ($s[$num + 1] -eq '#') {
                        return $true
                    }
                }
            }
            $startIndex = $num + 1
        }
        return $false
    }
}

Main Function Body

In this stage we build the function itself. Since we’re using attributes to check the parameters, the first two if statements are ignored. After that, we have a single do-while loop. In this loop, we are going to use tools from the System.Security.Cryptography library, so let’s import it.

Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Security.Cryptography

# If you get 'Assembly cannot be found' errors, load it with partial name instead.
[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('System.Security.Cryptography')

First let’s declare the variables used in the main function body, and inside the main loop. This gives us the opportunity to analyze our choices.

# Explicitly declaring the output 'text' to match the method. We can skip this delaration.
# Same for the 'matchIndex'
$text = [string]::Empty
$matchIndex = 0
do {
    $array = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Byte[]' -ArgumentList $Length
    $array2 = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Char[]' -ArgumentList $Length
    $num = 0

    # This stage could be done in 3 ways. We could use 'New-Object' and imediately call
    # 'GetBytes' on it, we could use the class constructor directly, and call 'GetBytes'
    # on it: [System.Security.Cryptography.RNGCryptoServiceProvider]::new().GetBytes(),
    # or we could instantiate the 'RNGCryptoServiceProvider' object using one of the
    # previous methods, and call 'GetBytes' on it. Since we're using PowerShell tools the
    # most we can, and we want to stay true to the method, let's use the first option.
    # [void] used to suppress output.
    [void](New-Object -TypeName 'System.Security.Cryptography.RNGCryptoServiceProvider').GetBytes($array)

    # Note that when passing a variable as reference to a function parameter, we need to
    # cast it to 'PSReference'. The parentheses are necessary so the parameter uses the
    # object, and not use it as a string.
} while ((Get-IsDangerousString -s $text -matchIndex ([ref]$matchIndex)))

Note that in our pursuit to stay true to the method’s layout, we are including extra declarations. Although this could be avoided, in some cases it helps with script readability. Plus, if you have experience with any programming language, this will feel familiar.

Right after that, we have a for loop, which will choose each character for our password. It does this with a series of mathematical operations, and comparisons.

for ($i = 0; $i -lt $Length; $i++) {
    $num2 = [int]$array[$i] % 87
    if ($num2 -lt 10) {
        $array2[$i] = [char](48 + $num2)
        continue
    }
    if ($num2 -lt 36) {
        $array2[$i] = [char](65 + $num2 - 10)
        continue
    }
    if ($num2 -lt 62) {
        $array2[$i] = [char](97 + $num2 - 36)
        continue
    }
    $array2[$i] = $global:punctuations[$num2 - 62]
    $num++
}

The next session is going to manage our number of non-alphanumeric characters. It does that by generating random symbol characters and replacing values in the array we filled in the previous loop.

if ($num -lt $NumberOfNonAlphaNumericCharacters) {
    $random = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Random'

    # Generating only the characters left to complete our parameter specification.
    for ($j = 0; $j -lt $NumberOfNonAlphaNumericCharacters - $num; $j++) {
        $num3 = 0
        do {
            $num3 = $random.Next(0, $Length)
        } while (![char]::IsLetterOrDigit($array2[$num3]))
        $array2[$num3] = $global:punctuations[$random.Next(0, $global:punctuations.Length)]
    }
}

Now all that’s left is to create a string from the character array, and check if it’s safe with Get-IsDangerousString.

$text = [string]::new($array2)

If our text is safe, we return it and the function reaches end of execution. Our finished function looks like this:

function New-StrongPassword {

    [CmdletBinding()]
    param (

        # Number of characters.
        [Parameter(
            Mandatory,
            Position = 0,
            HelpMessage = 'The number of characters the password should have.'
        )]
        [ValidateRange(1, 128)]
        [int] $Length,

        # Number of non alpha-numeric chars.
        [Parameter(
            Mandatory,
            Position = 1,
            HelpMessage = 'The number of non alpha-numeric characters the password should contain.'
        )]
        [ValidateScript({
            if ($PSItem -gt $Length -or $PSItem -lt 0) {
                $newObjectSplat = @{
                    TypeName = 'System.ArgumentException'
                    ArgumentList = 'Membership minimum required non alpha-numeric characters is incorrect'
                }
                throw New-Object @newObjectSplat
            }
        })]
        [int] $NumberOfNonAlphaNumericCharacters

    )

    Begin {
        [char[]]$global:punctuations = @('!', '@', '#', '$', '%', '^', '&', '*', '(', ')', '_',
                                         '-', '+', '=', '[', '{', ']', '}', ';', ':', '>', '|',
                                         '.', '/', '?')
        [char[]]$global:startingChars = @('<', '&')

        function Get-IsAToZ([char]$c) {
            if ($c -lt 'a' -or $c -gt 'z') {
                if ($c -ge 'A') {
                    return $c -le 'Z'
                }
                return $false
            }
            return $true
        }

        function Get-IsDangerousString {

            param([string]$s, [ref]$matchIndex)

            $matchIndex.Value = 0
            $startIndex = 0

            while ($true) {
                $num = $s.IndexOfAny($global:startingChars, $startIndex)
                if ($num -lt 0) {
                    return $false
                }
                if ($num -eq $s.Length - 1) {
                    break
                }
                $matchIndex.Value = $num

                switch ($s[$num]) {
                    '<' {
                        if (
                            (Get-IsAToZ($s[$num + 1])) -or
                            ($s[$num + 1] -eq '!')     -or
                            ($s[$num + 1] -eq '/')     -or
                            ($s[$num + 1] -eq '?')
                        ) {
                            return $true
                        }
                    }
                    '&' {
                        if ($s[$num + 1] -eq '#') {
                            return $true
                        }
                    }
                }
                $startIndex = $num + 1
            }
            return $false
        }
    }

    Process {
        Add-Type -AssemblyName 'System.Security.Cryptography'

        $text = [string]::Empty
        $matchIndex = 0
        do {
            $array = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Byte[]' -ArgumentList $Length
            $array2 = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Char[]' -ArgumentList $Length
            $num = 0
            [void](New-Object -TypeName 'System.Security.Cryptography.RNGCryptoServiceProvider').GetBytes($array)

            for ($i = 0; $i -lt $Length; $i++) {
                $num2 = [int]$array[$i] % 87
                if ($num2 -lt 10) {
                    $array2[$i] = [char](48 + $num2)
                    continue
                }
                if ($num2 -lt 36) {
                    $array2[$i] = [char](65 + $num2 - 10)
                    continue
                }
                if ($num2 -lt 62) {
                    $array2[$i] = [char](97 + $num2 - 36)
                    continue
                }
                $array2[$i] = $global:punctuations[$num2 - 62]
                $num++
            }

            if ($num -lt $NumberOfNonAlphaNumericCharacters) {
                $random = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Random'

                for ($j = 0; $j -lt $NumberOfNonAlphaNumericCharacters - $num; $j++) {
                    $num3 = 0
                    do {
                        $num3 = $random.Next(0, $Length)
                    } while (![char]::IsLetterOrDigit($array2[$num3]))
                    $array2[$num3] = $global:punctuations[$random.Next(0, $global:punctuations.Length)]
                }
            }

            $text = [string]::new($array2)
        } while ((Get-IsDangerousString -s $text -matchIndex ([ref]$matchIndex)))
    }

    End {
        return $text
    }
}

Result

Now all that’s left is to call our function:

Conclusion

I hope you had as much fun as I had building this function. With this new skill, you can improve your scripts’ complexity and reliability. This also makes you more comfortable to write your own modules, binary or not.

Thank you for going along.

Happy scripting!

Links

• ILSpy GitHub page
• Test our WindowsUtils module!
• See what I’m up to