The pointer argument to the free or realloc function does not match a pointer earlier returned by a memory management function, or the space has been deallocated by a call to free or realloc.

See also undefined behavior 184.

Freeing memory that is not allocated dynamically can result in heap corruption and other serious errors. Do not call free() on a pointer other than one returned by a standard memory allocation function, such as malloc(), calloc(), realloc(), or aligned_alloc().

A similar situation arises when realloc() is supplied a pointer to non-dynamically allocated memory. The realloc() function is used to resize a block of dynamic memory. If realloc() is supplied a pointer to memory not allocated by a standard memory allocation function, the behavior is undefined. One consequence is that the program may terminate abnormally.

This rule does not apply to null pointers. The C Standard guarantees that if free() is passed a null pointer, no action occurs.

Noncompliant Code Example

This noncompliant code example sets c_str to reference either dynamically allocated memory or a statically allocated string literal depending on the value of argc. In either case, c_str is passed as an argument to free(). If anything other than dynamically allocated memory is referenced by c_str, the call to free(c_str) is erroneous.

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdio.h>
 
enum { MAX_ALLOCATION = 1000 };

int main(int argc, const char *argv[]) {
  char *c_str = NULL;
  size_t len;

  if (argc == 2) {
    len = strlen(argv[1]) + 1;
    if (len > MAX_ALLOCATION) {
      /* Handle error */
    }
    c_str = (char *)malloc(len);
    if (c_str == NULL) {
      /* Handle error */
    }
    strcpy(c_str, argv[1]);
  } else {
    c_str = "usage: $>a.exe [string]";
    printf("%s\n", c_str);
  }
  free(c_str);
  return 0;
}

Compliant Solution

This compliant solution eliminates the possibility of c_str referencing memory that is not allocated dynamically when passed to free():

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdio.h>
 
enum { MAX_ALLOCATION = 1000 };

int main(int argc, const char *argv[]) {
  char *c_str = NULL;
  size_t len;

  if (argc == 2) {
    len = strlen(argv[1]) + 1;
    if (len > MAX_ALLOCATION) {
      /* Handle error */
    }
    c_str = (char *)malloc(len);
    if (c_str == NULL) {
      /* Handle error */
    }
    strcpy(c_str, argv[1]);
  } else {
    printf("%s\n", "usage: $>a.exe [string]");
    return EXIT_FAILURE;
  }
  free(c_str);
  return 0;
}

Noncompliant Code Example (realloc())

In this noncompliant example, the pointer parameter to realloc(), buf, does not refer to dynamically allocated memory:

#include <stdlib.h>
 
enum { BUFSIZE = 256 };
 
void f(void) {
  char buf[BUFSIZE];
  char *p = (char *)realloc(buf, 2 * BUFSIZE);
  if (p == NULL) {
    /* Handle error */
  }
}

Compliant Solution (realloc())

In this compliant solution, buf refers to dynamically allocated memory:

#include <stdlib.h>
 
enum { BUFSIZE = 256 };
 
void f(void) {
  char *buf = (char *)malloc(BUFSIZE * sizeof(char));
  char *p = (char *)realloc(buf, 2 * BUFSIZE);
  if (p == NULL) {
    /* Handle error */
  }
}

Note that realloc() will behave properly even if malloc() failed, because when given a null pointer, realloc() behaves like a call to malloc().

Risk Assessment

The consequences of this error depend on the implementation, but they range from nothing to arbitrary code execution if that memory is reused by malloc()

Rule

Severity

Likelihood

Remediation Cost

Priority

Level

MEM34-C

High

Likely

Medium

P18

L1

Automated Detection

Tool

Version

Checker

Description

Astrée
24.04

invalid-free

Fully checked
Axivion Bauhaus Suite

7.2.0

CertC-MEM34Can detect memory deallocations for stack objects
Clang
3.9
clang-analyzer-unix.MallocChecked by clang-tidy; can detect some instances of this rule, but does not detect all
CodeSonar
8.1p0

ALLOC.TM

Type Mismatch

Compass/ROSE

Can detect some violations of this rule

Coverity

2017.07

BAD_FREE

Identifies calls to free() where the argument is a pointer to a function or an array. It also detects the cases where
free() is used on an address-of expression, which can never be heap allocated. Coverity Prevent cannot discover all
violations of this rule, so further verification is necessary

Cppcheck

 2.15

autovarInvalidDeallocation
mismatchAllocDealloc
Partially implemented
Cppcheck Premium

24.9.0

autovarInvalidDeallocation
mismatchAllocDealloc
Partially implemented
Helix QAC

2024.3

DF2721, DF2722, DF2723


Klocwork
2024.3
FNH.MIGHT
FNH.MUST

LDRA tool suite
9.7.1

407 S, 483 S, 644 S, 645 S, 125 D

Partially implemented
Parasoft C/C++test
2023.1

CERT_C-MEM34-a

Do not free resources using invalid pointers
Parasoft Insure++

Runtime analysis
PC-lint Plus

1.4

424, 673

Fully supported

Polyspace Bug Finder

R2024a

CERT C: Rule MEM34-C


Checks for:

  • Invalid free of pointer
  • Invalid reallocation of pointer

Rule fully covered.

PVS-Studio

7.33

V585, V726
RuleChecker
24.04
invalid-free
Partially checked
TrustInSoft Analyzer

1.38

unclassified ("free expects a free-able address")

Exhaustively verified (see one compliant and one non-compliant example).

Related Vulnerabilities

CVE-2015-0240 describes a vulnerability in which an uninitialized pointer is passed to TALLOC_FREE(), which is a Samba-specific memory deallocation macro that wraps the talloc_free() function. The implementation of  talloc_free() would access the uninitialized pointer, resulting in a remote exploit.

Search for vulnerabilities resulting from the violation of this rule on the CERT website.

Related Guidelines

Key here (explains table format and definitions)

Taxonomy

Taxonomy item

Relationship

CERT C Secure Coding StandardMEM31-C. Free dynamically allocated memory when no longer neededPrior to 2018-01-12: CERT: Unspecified Relationship
CERT CMEM51-CPP. Properly deallocate dynamically allocated resourcesPrior to 2018-01-12: CERT: Unspecified Relationship
ISO/IEC TS 17961Reallocating or freeing memory that was not dynamically allocated [xfree]Prior to 2018-01-12: CERT: Unspecified Relationship
CWE 2.11CWE-590, Free of Memory Not on the Heap2017-07-10: CERT: Exact

Bibliography

[ISO/IEC 9899:2024]Subclause J.2, "Undefined Behavior"
[Seacord 2013b]Chapter 4, "Dynamic Memory Management"



2 Comments

  1. Is it fair to grumble that copying arguments to main() is done far more often than is actually necessary?  I've certainly seen far too many programs that copy arguments into fixed size buffers (without checking lengths, of course).  My experience is that it is very seldom necessary to copy command-line arguments.

    1. Sure. Combined with some discussion on how to handle arguments correctly might even make a reasonable recommendation.