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When compiled for Windows (x86), the output of this program is:
Size of struct: 16 bytes

Non-Compliant Coding Example

This non-compliant example demonstrates the incorrect way to declare a triangular array of integers.

Code Block
bgColor#FFcccc
/* assuming 32-bit pointer, 32-bit integer */
int i;
int** triarray = calloc(100, 4);
for (i = 0; i < 100; i++)
    triarray[i] = calloc(i, 4);

Compliant Solution

The above example can be fixed by replacing the hard-coded value 4 with the actual size of the datatype as represented on the target platform. Remember to check the return value of the memory allocation routines.

Code Block
bgColor#ccccff
int i;
int** triarray = calloc(100, sizeof(int*));
if (!triarray)
    { /* perform cleanup, return error */ }
for (i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
    triarray[i] = calloc(i, sizeof(int));
    if (!triarray[i])
        { /* perform cleanup, return error */ }
}

Risk Assessment

If non-compliant code is ported to a different platform, it could introduce a heap or stack overflow vulnerability.

Rule

Severity

Likelihood

Remediation Cost

Priority

Level

EXPxx-A

3 (high)

1 (unlikely)

2 (medium)

P6

L2

References

Wiki Markup
\[[ISO/IEC 9899-1999|cplusplus:AA. C++ References#ISO/IEC 9899-1999]\] Section 6.2.6, "Representations of types", and Section 6.5.3.4, "The sizeof operator"