SEI CERT C Coding Standard

Space shortcuts

Page tree

Versions Compared

Old Version 152

changes.mady.by.user Will Snavely

Saved on

compared with

New Version 153

changes.mady.by.user Carol J. Lallier

Saved on

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.

...

This compliant solution ensures that both input_str and the pointer returned by malloc() are not null.: 

Code Block
bgColor#ccccff
langc
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
 
void f(const char *input_str) {
  size_t size;
  char *c_str;
 
  if (NULL == input_str) {
    /* Handle error */
  }
  
  size = strlen(input_str) + 1;
  c_str = (char *)malloc(size);
  if (NULL == c_str) {
    /* Handle error */
  }
  memcpy(c_str, input_str, size);
  /* ... */
  free(c_str);
  c_str = NULL;
  /* ... */
}

...

ToolVersionCheckerDescription
CodeSonar
Include Page
CodeSonar_V
CodeSonar_V

LANG.MEM.NPD

LANG.STRUCT.NTAD

LANG.STRUCT.UPD

Null Pointer Dereferencepointer dereference

Null Test After Dereferencetest after dereference

Unchecked Parameter Dereferenceparameter dereference

Compass/ROSE  

Can detect violations of this rule. In particular, ROSE ensures that any pointer returned by malloc(), calloc(), or realloc() is first checked for NULL before being used (otherwise, it is free()-ed). ROSE does not handle cases where an allocation is assigned to an lvalue that is not a variable (such as a struct member or C++ function call returning a reference)

Coverity

 

Include Page
Coverity_V
Coverity_V

CHECKED_RETURN
 

NULL_RETURNS
 

REVERSE_INULL


FORWARD_NULL

Finds instances where a pointer is checked against NULL and then later dereferenced

Identifies functions that can return a null pointer but are not checked

Identifies code that dereferences a pointer and then checks the pointer against NULL

Can find the instances where NULL is explicitly dereferenced or a pointer is checked against NULL but then dereferenced anyway. Coverity Prevent cannot discover all violations of this rule, so further verification is necessary

Fortify SCA

5.0

  

Klocwork

Include Page
Klocwork_V
Klocwork_V

NPD.* *RNPD.*

 

LDRA tool suite

Include Page
LDRA_V
LDRA_V

45 D

Fully implemented
PRQA QA-C
Include Page
PRQA QA-C_v
PRQA QA-C_v

2810, 2811, 2812, 2813, 2814, 2820, 2821, 2822, 2823, 2824 

Fully implemented

Splint

Include Page
Splint_V
Splint_V
  

...

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

Related Guidelines

...

CERT Oracle Secure Coding Standard for JavaEXP01-J. Do not use a null in a case where an object is required
ISO/IEC TR 24772:2013Pointer Casting and Pointer Type Changes [HFC]
Null Pointer Dereference [XYH]
ISO/IEC TS 17961Dereferencing an out-of-domain pointer [nullref]
MITRE CWECWE-476, NULL Pointer Dereference

...