lucasg/Dependencies · warning

Cecil could not correctly parse {0:s}, which can happens on

Error message

Cecil could not correctly parse {0:s}, which can happens on .NET Core executables. CLR imports will be not shown

What it means

Shown by DependencyWindow.ProcessClrImports (DependenciesGui/DependencyWindow.xaml.cs:790) when AssemblyDefinition.ReadAssembly (Mono.Cecil) throws BadImageFormatException for the analysed PE. ProcessClrImports only runs when the module imports mscoree.dll (i.e. looks like a .NET assembly), so a BadImageFormatException here means Cecil could not read the CLR metadata; CLR/managed imports are therefore skipped. A modal 'CLR parsing fail' MessageBox is shown and the method returns.

Source

Thrown at DependenciesGui/DependencyWindow.xaml.cs:790

            // only mscorre triggers clr parsing
            string User32Filepath = Path.Combine(FindPe.GetSystemPath(this.Pe), "mscoree.dll");
            if (ImportModule.PeFilePath != User32Filepath)
            {
                return;
            }

            var resolver = new DefaultAssemblyResolver();
            resolver.AddSearchDirectory(RootFolder);

            // Parse it via cecil
            AssemblyDefinition PeAssembly = null;
            try
            {
                PeAssembly = AssemblyDefinition.ReadAssembly(AnalyzedPe.Filepath);
            }
            catch (BadImageFormatException)
            {
                MessageBoxResult result = MessageBox.Show(
                        String.Format("Cecil could not correctly parse {0:s}, which can happens on .NET Core executables. CLR imports will be not shown", AnalyzedPe.Filepath),
                        "CLR parsing fail"
                ); 

                return;
            }

            foreach (var module in PeAssembly.Modules)
            {
                // Process CLR referenced assemblies
                foreach (var assembly in module.AssemblyReferences)
                {
                    AssemblyDefinition definition;
                    try
                    {
                        definition = resolver.Resolve(assembly);
                    }
                    catch (AssemblyResolutionException)

View on GitHub (pinned to 1997a40000)

Solutions

1. Update Mono.Cecil to a version that supports the target .NET format and rebuild Dependencies.
2. For single-file .NET apps, extract the bundled assembly first and analyse that instead of the host exe.
3. Accept that CLR imports will be incomplete for this binary and rely on the native import table only.

// Mirror the existing guard when calling Cecil programmatically.
AssemblyDefinition asm;
try { asm = AssemblyDefinition.ReadAssembly(filepath); }
catch (BadImageFormatException)
{
    // CLR metadata unreadable - skip CLR import enumeration.
    return;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Analysing a .NET assembly whose metadata Cecil cannot parse - common with .NET Core / .NET 5+ single-file, ready-to-run, or mixed-mode images, or a .NET binary produced by a newer toolchain than the bundled Cecil supports.

Common situations: Modern .NET (Core/5/6/7/8) executables; apphost-hosted single-file bundles; mixed-mode C++/CLI images; obfuscated/encrypted assemblies.

Related errors

• Loading PE file "{0:s}" failed : file not present on disk.
• Loading module {0:s} failed.
• Can only convert to string.
• Can only convert an instance of enum.
• {0:s} file could not be found !

AI-assisted analysis of lucasg/Dependencies@1997a40000 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/84284ebd7499de40. Report an issue: GitHub.