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Every object has a storage duration that determines its lifetime: static, thread, automatic, or allocated dynamic.

[ISO/IEC 14882-2003] Section 3.8, "Object Lifetime" describes a number of situations in which trying to access an object outside of its lifetime leads to undefined behavior.

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In this compliant solution, the variable local has static storage duration; consequently, ptr can be used to reference the local array within the rodent() function:

char local[10];
 
void squirrel_away(char **ptr_param) {
  /* Initialize array */
  *ptr_param = local;
}

void rodent(void) {
  char *ptr;
  squirrel_away(&ptr);
  /* ptr is valid in this scope */
}

Risk  Risk Assessment

Referencing an object outside of its lifetime can result in an attacker being able to run arbitrary code.

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Bibliography

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