Way back in February 2022, Microsoft began tracking an issue in Windows Server installations where apps using the .NET Framework to acquire or set Active Directory Forest Trust Information would throw exceptions from within the app or Windows, simply fail, or close. Some developers even reported receiving the 0xc0000005 access violation error. Now, after an investigation period that seemingly spanned over three years, Microsoft has released a patch for this issue.
Over on its Windows Release Health dashboard, Microsoft has notified users of an out-of-band update for the .NET Framework which resolves the issue. This fix is not available through Windows Update, and customers will have to grab it manually through the Microsoft Update Catalog. The update would then need to be imported into Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager.
Dedicated links for specific updates and their installation instructions are listed below:
- Windows Server 2022
- .NET Framework 4.8 KB5011258
- Windows Server 2019
- Windows Server 2016
- Windows Server 2012 R2
- Windows Server 2012
Microsoft hasn"t disclosed why it took so long to fix this issue, but it"s encouraging to see the out-of-band patch being rolled out to older versions of Windows Server going back to Server 2012. Windows 2025 and client versions of Windows are completely unaffected by this bug though. If you"re a developer who has been plagued by this issue for the past three years and hasn"t been able to figure out a workaround, you should probably jump on these patches as soon as possible.