What does Windows error code 8309 (ERROR_DS_USER_BUFFER_TO_SMALL) mean?

 
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ERROR_DS_USER_BUFFER_TO_SMALL

The user buffer is too small.

ERROR_DS_USER_BUFFER_TO_SMALL is Win32 error 8309 (0x00002075) and concerns a caller-provided buffer for directory-service output.

What to verify

Verify whether the output buffer is large enough for the complete directory result and any terminator or structure alignment. Check supplied and required byte counts, API and structure version, and encoding and element count.

Likely causes

  • the caller ignored the required-size result.
  • the data grew between sizing and retrieval.
  • character count was mistaken for byte count.
  • structure version or alignment was calculated incorrectly.

Troubleshooting steps

  1. Collect supplied and required byte counts.
  2. Record API and structure version.

Handling, retry, and recovery

Allocate from the returned required size with overflow checks, repeat the retrieval, and cap untrusted sizes before allocation.

Related errors

ERROR_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER is the general Win32 form; this directory-specific value identifies the DS operation

Example

A tool sizes a buffer in UTF-16 characters but passes that number as bytes. Logging both units exposes the mismatch, and allocating the required byte count resolves it.

References


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