bcquality/microsoft/knowledge/security/use-nondebuggable-when-parsing-secrets.md
Jesper Schulz-Wedde 9a4198eb28 Add [all] sentinel to bc-version; apply to version-agnostic knowledge
Most of the corpus — FindSet/SetLoadFields/CalcFields patterns, permission
sets, SingleInstance codeunits, DataClassification, IsolatedStorage,
transaction scope, SecretText — describes BC platform behaviour that is
identical across supported versions. The seed [26..28] range on every
file implied a version-specificity the content does not actually have,
and there was no way to express "applies to every version" in the
schema the way [w1] and [all] already do for countries and
application-area.

Extend the v1 schema with a universal sentinel for bc-version, parallel
to the sentinels already defined for the other dimensions:

  bc-version: [all]         # applies to every BC version

[all] is mutually exclusive with explicit versions. Range shorthand
([26..28]) and explicit lists ([26, 27, 28]) continue to work for files
genuinely tied to a version-gated API or deprecation.

Update read.md (field definition, matching semantics, partial-context
rule), write.md (default to [all], use ranges only with a concrete
reason), README.md (frontmatter example), and the CI validator. All
forty existing knowledge files and the three action skills convert to
[all]; none of the current content is version-gated. Validator passes.
2026-04-23 16:00:03 +02:00

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1.4 KiB
Markdown

---
bc-version: [all]
domain: security
keywords: [nondebuggable, secrettext, attribute, parse]
technologies: [al]
countries: [w1]
application-area: [all]
---
# Use NonDebuggable when parsing secrets
> **Seed article.** Converted from an existing security-review prompt to bootstrap the BCQuality security corpus. Domain stewards should expand, restructure, and refine as needed.
## Description
SecretText transit (assignment between SecretText variables, parameters, and return values) is protected automatically. Extracting a secret from a Text source — for example, reading an access token out of a parsed JSON response — is a legitimate Text-to-SecretText conversion during which the plaintext exists. The [NonDebuggable] attribute prevents debuggers (regular and snapshot) from inspecting the procedure's locals, parameters, and return at that moment.
## Best Practice
Apply [NonDebuggable] to any procedure that reads a response body, parses it, and assigns the extracted secret to a SecretText out-parameter or return. Keep the procedure narrow: it SHOULD do the minimum work required to obtain the SecretText, and nothing else.
See sample: `use-nondebuggable-when-parsing-secrets.good.al`.
## Anti Pattern
Parsing a token response in a normal (debuggable) procedure. The plaintext token is visible in debug sessions and snapshots taken during the parse.
See sample: `use-nondebuggable-when-parsing-secrets.bad.al`.