diff --git a/src/BannedSymbols.txt b/src/BannedSymbols.txt
index f11ba0906af..c369fe9d42b 100644
--- a/src/BannedSymbols.txt
+++ b/src/BannedSymbols.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,7 @@
 M:System.Globalization.CompareInfo.IndexOf(System.String,System.Char);CompareInfo.IndexOf can unexpectedly allocate strings--use string.IndexOf
 P:Microsoft.Build.Construction.ProjectElementContainer.Children;Use ChildrenEnumerable instead to avoid boxing
+M:System.Xml.XmlReader.Create(System.String);Do not pass paths to XmlReader.Create--use the Stream overload
+M:System.Xml.XmlReader.Create(System.String,System.Xml.XmlReaderSettings);Do not pass paths to XmlReader.Create--use the Stream overload
+M:System.Xml.XmlReader.Create(System.String,System.Xml.XmlReaderSettings,System.Xml.XmlParserContext);Do not pass paths to XmlReader.Create--use the Stream overload
+M:System.Xml.XPath.XPathDocument.#ctor(System.String);Do not pass string paths to XPathDocument ctor--use the Stream overload
+M:System.Xml.XPath.XPathDocument.#ctor(System.String,System.Xml.XmlSpace);Do not pass string paths to XPathDocument ctor--use the Stream overload
diff --git a/src/Tasks/GenerateResource.cs b/src/Tasks/GenerateResource.cs
index 535e0a3dd2d..3c198c1d512 100644
--- a/src/Tasks/GenerateResource.cs
+++ b/src/Tasks/GenerateResource.cs
@@ -1745,9 +1745,10 @@ private bool NeedSeparateAppDomain()
 
                     try
                     {
-                        XmlReaderSettings readerSettings = new XmlReaderSettings();
-                        readerSettings.DtdProcessing = DtdProcessing.Ignore;
-                        reader = XmlReader.Create(source.ItemSpec, readerSettings);
+                        XmlReaderSettings readerSettings = new XmlReaderSettings { DtdProcessing = DtdProcessing.Ignore, CloseInput = true };
+
+                        FileStream fs = File.OpenRead(source.ItemSpec);
+                        reader = XmlReader.Create(fs, readerSettings);
 
                         while (reader.Read())
                         {
diff --git a/src/Tasks/ManifestUtil/XmlUtil.cs b/src/Tasks/ManifestUtil/XmlUtil.cs
index e2360d23b24..ca35d8090a0 100644
--- a/src/Tasks/ManifestUtil/XmlUtil.cs
+++ b/src/Tasks/ManifestUtil/XmlUtil.cs
@@ -97,36 +97,38 @@ public static Stream XslTransform(string resource, Stream input, params Dictiona
             Util.CopyStream(input, clonedInput);
 
             int t4 = Environment.TickCount;
-            XmlReader xml = XmlReader.Create(clonedInput);
-            Util.WriteLog(String.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "new XmlReader(2) t={0}", Environment.TickCount - t4));
-
-            XsltArgumentList args = null;
-            if (entries.Length > 0)
+            using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(clonedInput))
             {
-                args = new XsltArgumentList();
-                foreach (DictionaryEntry entry in entries)
+                Util.WriteLog(String.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "new XmlReader(2) t={0}", Environment.TickCount - t4));
+
+                XsltArgumentList args = null;
+                if (entries.Length > 0)
                 {
-                    string key = entry.Key.ToString();
-                    object val = entry.Value.ToString();
-                    args.AddParam(key, "", val);
-                    Util.WriteLog(String.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "arg: key='{0}' value='{1}'", key, val.ToString()));
+                    args = new XsltArgumentList();
+                    foreach (DictionaryEntry entry in entries)
+                    {
+                        string key = entry.Key.ToString();
+                        object val = entry.Value.ToString();
+                        args.AddParam(key, "", val);
+                        Util.WriteLog(String.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "arg: key='{0}' value='{1}'", key, val.ToString()));
+                    }
                 }
-            }
 
-            var m = new MemoryStream();
-            var w = new XmlTextWriter(m, Encoding.UTF8);
-            w.WriteStartDocument();
+                var m = new MemoryStream();
+                var w = new XmlTextWriter(m, Encoding.UTF8);
+                w.WriteStartDocument();
 
-            int t5 = Environment.TickCount;
-            xslc.Transform(xml, args, w, s_resolver);
-            Util.WriteLog(String.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "XslCompiledTransform.Transform t={0}", Environment.TickCount - t4));
+                int t5 = Environment.TickCount;
+                xslc.Transform(reader, args, w, s_resolver);
+                Util.WriteLog(String.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "XslCompiledTransform.Transform t={0}", Environment.TickCount - t4));
 
-            w.WriteEndDocument();
-            w.Flush();
-            m.Position = 0;
+                w.WriteEndDocument();
+                w.Flush();
+                m.Position = 0;
 
-            Util.WriteLog(String.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "XslCompiledTransform(\"{0}\") t={1}", resource, Environment.TickCount - t1));
-            return m;
+                Util.WriteLog(String.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "XslCompiledTransform(\"{0}\") t={1}", resource, Environment.TickCount - t1));
+                return m;
+            }
         }
 
         private class ResourceResolver : XmlUrlResolver
diff --git a/src/Tasks/ManifestUtil/mansign2.cs b/src/Tasks/ManifestUtil/mansign2.cs
index ef14371aa36..3b19aee2b1e 100644
--- a/src/Tasks/ManifestUtil/mansign2.cs
+++ b/src/Tasks/ManifestUtil/mansign2.cs
@@ -612,8 +612,10 @@ private static byte[] ComputeHashFromManifest(XmlDocument manifestDom, bool oldF
                 {
                     XmlReaderSettings settings = new XmlReaderSettings();
                     settings.DtdProcessing = DtdProcessing.Parse;
-                    XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(stringReader, settings, manifestDom.BaseURI);
-                    normalizedDom.Load(reader);
+                    using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(stringReader, settings, manifestDom.BaseURI))
+                    {
+                        normalizedDom.Load(reader);
+                    }
                 }
 
                 XmlDsigExcC14NTransform exc = new XmlDsigExcC14NTransform();
diff --git a/src/Tasks/XamlTaskFactory/RelationsParser.cs b/src/Tasks/XamlTaskFactory/RelationsParser.cs
index f9734a9720f..8ef3dee1bf3 100644
--- a/src/Tasks/XamlTaskFactory/RelationsParser.cs
+++ b/src/Tasks/XamlTaskFactory/RelationsParser.cs
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@
 using System.IO;
 using System.Xml;
 using Microsoft.Build.Shared;
+using Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Deployment.ManifestUtilities;
+using Microsoft.IO;
+using File = System.IO.File;
 
 #nullable disable
 
@@ -174,17 +177,19 @@ internal class RelationsParser
         #endregion
 
         /// <summary>
-        /// The method that loads in an XML file
+        /// The method that loads in an XML file.
         /// </summary>
-        /// <param name="fileName">the xml file containing switches and properties</param>
-        private XmlDocument LoadFile(string fileName)
+        /// <param name="filePath">the xml file containing switches and properties.</param>
+        private XmlDocument LoadFile(string filePath)
         {
             try
             {
                 var xmlDocument = new XmlDocument();
-                XmlReaderSettings settings = new XmlReaderSettings { DtdProcessing = DtdProcessing.Ignore };
-                XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(fileName, settings);
+                XmlReaderSettings settings = new XmlReaderSettings { DtdProcessing = DtdProcessing.Ignore, CloseInput = true };
+                FileStream fs = File.OpenRead(filePath);
+                using XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(fs, settings);
                 xmlDocument.Load(reader);
+
                 return xmlDocument;
             }
             catch (FileNotFoundException e)
@@ -209,9 +214,12 @@ internal XmlDocument LoadXml(string xml)
             {
                 var xmlDocument = new XmlDocument();
                 XmlReaderSettings settings = new XmlReaderSettings { DtdProcessing = DtdProcessing.Ignore };
-                XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(new StringReader(xml), settings);
-                xmlDocument.Load(reader);
-                return xmlDocument;
+                using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(new StringReader(xml), settings))
+                {
+                    xmlDocument.Load(reader);
+
+                    return xmlDocument;
+                }
             }
             catch (XmlException e)
             {
@@ -221,7 +229,7 @@ internal XmlDocument LoadXml(string xml)
         }
 
         /// <summary>
-        /// Parses the xml file
+        /// Parses the xml file.
         /// </summary>
         public bool ParseXmlDocument(string fileName)
         {
diff --git a/src/Tasks/XslTransformation.cs b/src/Tasks/XslTransformation.cs
index c2829bd8851..f5e09078922 100644
--- a/src/Tasks/XslTransformation.cs
+++ b/src/Tasks/XslTransformation.cs
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ public override bool Execute()
         /// Takes the raw XML and loads XsltArgumentList
         /// </summary>
         /// <param name="xsltParametersXml">The raw XML that holds each parameter as <Parameter Name="" Value="" Namespace="" /> </param>
-        /// <returns>XsltArgumentList</returns>
+        /// <returns>XsltArgumentList.</returns>
         private static XsltArgumentList ProcessXsltArguments(string xsltParametersXml)
         {
             XsltArgumentList arguments = new XsltArgumentList();
@@ -214,8 +214,10 @@ private static XsltArgumentList ProcessXsltArguments(string xsltParametersXml)
             try
             {
                 XmlReaderSettings settings = new XmlReaderSettings { DtdProcessing = DtdProcessing.Ignore };
-                XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(new StringReader("<XsltParameters>" + xsltParametersXml + "</XsltParameters>"), settings);
-                doc.Load(reader);
+                using (XmlReader reader = XmlReader.Create(new StringReader("<XsltParameters>" + xsltParametersXml + "</XsltParameters>"), settings))
+                {
+                    doc.Load(reader);
+                }
             }
             catch (XmlException xe)
             {