Ajax POST to MVC4 with special characters '&#' does not work

Question

Ajax POST data that contains '&#' characters causes MVC4 controller fails to decode. Following were my tests;

POST data contains 'MYNAMEIS&#XYZ' , result ERROR
POST data contains 'MYNAMEIS& #XYZ' (note the space), result SUCCESS
POST data contains 'MYNAMEIS#&XYZ' (note the order of special characters), result SUCCESS
POST data contains 'Q&^%AA####@$%' (note bunch of special characters), result SUCCESS

It doesn't work when # comes right after & in the POST request. I've verified that request encoding is set to UTF-8 in web.config, _layout.cshtml . But still no luck.

Please help how to resolve this issue.

Stack Trace from the exception;

<!-- 
[HttpRequestValidationException]: A potentially dangerous Request.Form value was detected from the client (Name=&quot;&amp;#&quot;).
   at System.Web.HttpRequest.ValidateString(String value, String collectionKey, RequestValidationSource requestCollection)
   at System.Web.HttpRequest.<>c__DisplayClass5.<ValidateHttpValueCollection>b__3(String key, String value)
   at System.Web.HttpValueCollection.EnsureKeyValidated(String key)
   at System.Web.HttpValueCollection.GetValues(String name)
   at System.Web.Mvc.NameValueCollectionValueProvider.ValueProviderResultPlaceholder.GetResultFromCollection(String key, NameValueCollection collection, CultureInfo culture)
   at System.Web.Mvc.NameValueCollectionValueProvider.ValueProviderResultPlaceholder.<>c__DisplayClass8.<.ctor>b__4()
   at System.Lazy`1.CreateValue()
   at System.Lazy`1.LazyInitValue()
   at System.Lazy`1.get_Value()
   at System.Web.Mvc.NameValueCollectionValueProvider.GetValue(String key, Boolean skipValidation)
   at System.Web.Mvc.ValueProviderCollection.GetValueFromProvider(IValueProvider provider, String key, Boolean skipValidation)
   at System.Web.Mvc.ValueProviderCollection.<>c__DisplayClass9.<GetValue>b__4(IValueProvider provider)
   at System.Linq.Enumerable.WhereSelectEnumerableIterator`2.MoveNext()
   at System.Linq.Enumerable.WhereSelectEnumerableIterator`2.MoveNext()
   at System.Linq.Enumerable.FirstOrDefault[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source)
   at System.Web.Mvc.ValueProviderCollection.GetValue(String key, Boolean skipValidation)
   at System.Web.Mvc.DefaultModelBinder.BindModel(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext)
   at System.Web.Mvc.DefaultModelBinder.GetPropertyValue(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext, PropertyDescriptor propertyDescriptor, IModelBinder propertyBinder)
   at System.Web.Mvc.DefaultModelBinder.BindProperty(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext, PropertyDescriptor propertyDescriptor)
   at System.Web.Mvc.DefaultModelBinder.BindProperties(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext)
   at System.Web.Mvc.DefaultModelBinder.BindComplexElementalModel(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext, Object model)
   at System.Web.Mvc.DefaultModelBinder.BindComplexModel(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext)
   at System.Web.Mvc.DefaultModelBinder.BindModel(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext)
   at System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.GetParameterValue(ControllerContext controllerContext, ParameterDescriptor parameterDescriptor)
   at System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.GetParameterValues(ControllerContext controllerContext, ActionDescriptor actionDescriptor)
   at System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncControllerActionInvoker.<>c__DisplayClass25.<BeginInvokeAction>b__1e(AsyncCallback asyncCallback, Object asyncState)
   at System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.WrappedAsyncResult`1.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, Int32 timeout)
   at System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncControllerActionInvoker.BeginInvokeAction(ControllerContext controllerContext, String actionName, AsyncCallback callback, Object state)
   at System.Web.Mvc.Controller.<>c__DisplayClass1d.<BeginExecuteCore>b__17(AsyncCallback asyncCallback, Object asyncState)
   at System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.WrappedAsyncResult`1.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, Int32 timeout)
   at System.Web.Mvc.Controller.BeginExecuteCore(AsyncCallback callback, Object state)
   at System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.WrappedAsyncResult`1.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, Int32 timeout)
   at System.Web.Mvc.Controller.BeginExecute(RequestContext requestContext, AsyncCallback callback, Object state)
   at System.Web.Mvc.Controller.System.Web.Mvc.Async.IAsyncController.BeginExecute(RequestContext requestContext, AsyncCallback callback, Object state)
   at System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.<>c__DisplayClass8.<BeginProcessRequest>b__2(AsyncCallback asyncCallback, Object asyncState)
   at System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.WrappedAsyncResult`1.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, Int32 timeout)
   at System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.BeginProcessRequest(HttpContextBase httpContext, AsyncCallback callback, Object state)
   at System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.BeginProcessRequest(HttpContext httpContext, AsyncCallback callback, Object state)
   at System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.System.Web.IHttpAsyncHandler.BeginProcessRequest(HttpContext context, AsyncCallback cb, Object extraData)
   at System.Web.HttpApplication.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute()
   at System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously)
-->

Are you able to see the exact error it is throwing? – asymptoticFault Sep 11 '13 at 13:58 — asymptoticFault, Sep 11 '13 at 13:58
I just added stack trace – Gigi Mathew Sep 11 '13 at 22:16 — Gigi Mathew, Sep 11 '13 at 22:16

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 11 '13 at 22:27

1

Use the ValidateInput(false) attribute.

You can also encode the &# characters and then decode them on the server.

answered Sep 11 '13 at 22:27

Chuck Conway

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Thanks, that worked and saved my day – Gigi Mathew Sep 11 '13 at 23:32

Ajax POST to MVC4 with special characters '&#' does not work

1 Answers1