From e2c51e1e75ce744213c4b27eed11cdd72c35ee20 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Simon Cropp <simon.cropp@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:51:16 +1000
Subject: [PATCH] Throw on null assembly in TryGetType for bad plugin assembly

---
 src/Verify.Tests/PluginConventionTests.cs       | 4 ++++
 src/Verify/VerifierSettings_PluginConvention.cs | 7 ++++++-
 2 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/src/Verify.Tests/PluginConventionTests.cs b/src/Verify.Tests/PluginConventionTests.cs
index 7cafa48031..bd6c564bab 100644
--- a/src/Verify.Tests/PluginConventionTests.cs
+++ b/src/Verify.Tests/PluginConventionTests.cs
@@ -22,6 +22,10 @@ public void TryGetType()
     public void GetTypeName(string assemblyName, string expectedTypeName) =>
         Assert.Equal(expectedTypeName, VerifierSettings.GetTypeName(assemblyName));
 
+    [Fact]
+    public void TryGetTypeNullAssembly() =>
+        Assert.Throws<Exception>(() => VerifierSettings.TryGetType("Verify.BadAssemblyName.dll", out _));
+
     [Fact]
     public void InvokeInitialize()
     {
diff --git a/src/Verify/VerifierSettings_PluginConvention.cs b/src/Verify/VerifierSettings_PluginConvention.cs
index 5cfeccb495..d65ee8d118 100644
--- a/src/Verify/VerifierSettings_PluginConvention.cs
+++ b/src/Verify/VerifierSettings_PluginConvention.cs
@@ -51,8 +51,13 @@ internal static bool TryGetType(string file, [NotNullWhen(true)] out Type? type)
             return false;
         }
 #pragma warning disable CS0618
-        var assembly = Assembly.LoadWithPartialName(assemblyName)!;
+        var assembly = Assembly.LoadWithPartialName(assemblyName);
 #pragma warning restore CS0618
+        if (assembly == null)
+        {
+            throw new($"Could not load assembly '{assemblyName}'.");
+        }
+
         var typeName = GetTypeName(assemblyName);
         type = assembly.GetType(typeName);
         return type != null;