Hooked NtOpenFile fails when std::wstring is defined on the stack - c++

Question

I have written a hooking dll using the mhook library. In a spezial case the NtOpenFile() fails when a std::wstring is defined as stack var. Defining it on the heap the code is working.
The code is working without problems except when a certain win32 application (lets call it nuisance.exe) tries to open an existing testfile (like c:\temp\anyfile.log) the access fails. Mostly STATUS_INVALID_ACL (0xC0000077) is returned then.
I have reduced my code line by line and finally found that the error happens when in a called function a std::wstring is defined (this example below). The error happens every time an on different OS's
NTSTATUS NtOpenFileApiHook::NtOpenFileHook(PHANDLE FileHandle,
ACCESS_MASK DesiredAccess,
POBJECT_ATTRIBUTES ObjectAttributes,
PIO_STATUS_BLOCK IoStatusBlock,
ULONG ShareAccess,
ULONG OpenOptions
)
{
NTSTATUS Status = STATUS_SUCCESS;
// using this function the call will fail
AfterThis_NtOpenFile_WillFail();
// using this function INSTEAD the call will work
AfterThis_NtOpenFile_WillWork();
// calling the real NtOpenFile using a pointer
// nothing was changed hier, the original parameters are passed
Status = RealNtOpenFile(FileHandle, ...);
return Status;
}
int AfterThis_NtOpenFile_WillFail()
{
std::wstring String = L"";
return 0;
}
int AfterThis_NtOpenFile_WillWork()
{
std::wstring * pString = new std::wstring();
pString->assign(L"");
delete pString;
return 0;
}
I have fixed it this way for this call. But I'm afraid that other functions in other circumstainces could fail so I'm looking for the reason and (probably) for a solution.
Nuisance.exe is a C# application with default stacksize callling a win32 dll about which I know nothing.

Answer 1

If Nuisance.exe was a C++ application, I would imagine that it calls NtOpenFile in a way similar to this, allocating one of pointer parameters on overwritten stack:
POBJECT_ATTRIBUTES MakeObjectAttributes()
{
POBJECT_ATTRIBUTES oa = {...};
return &oa; // Pointer to stack variable - UB
}
...
NtOpenFile(..., MakeObjectAttributes(), ...)
STATUS_INVALID_ACL (0xC0000077) error might suggest that SecurityDescriptor within OBJECT_ATTRIBUTES is allocated this way.
Then it matters how much stack is used by AfterThis_NtOpenFile_WillFail, and it is more than AfterThis_NtOpenFile_WillWork, since std::wstring would be larger than just a couple of pointers due to small string optimization.
If the call chain is always the same, the corruption may be deterministic.
I don't know if code equivalent of returning address of temporary is possible in C#. But the DLL may be in C/C++ or similar language that allows dandling pointers.
To prove/disprove the role of stack, try to allocate other data on stack that has std::wstring size. More precise proof could be checking passed pointer to see if they point to stack area that is about to be overwritten.