Some implementations provide a nonportable environment pointer that is valid when main() is called but may be invalidated by operations that modify the environment.
The C Standard, J.5.1 2 [ISO/IEC 9899:20112024], states
In a hosted environment, the main function receives a third argument, char *envp[], that points to a null-terminated array of pointers to char, each of which points to a string that provides information about the environment for this execution of the program (5.1.2.3.2).
Consequently, under a hosted environment supporting this common extension, it is possible to access the environment through a modified form of main():
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Using the envp environment pointer after the environment has been modified can result in undefined behavior.
Rule | Severity | Likelihood | Detectable | Remediation CostRepairable | Priority | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ENV31-C | Low | Probable | Yes | NoMedium | P4 | L3 |
Automated Detection
Tool | Version | Checker | Description | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Astrée |
| invalidated-system-pointer-use | Partially checked + soundly supported | |||||||||||||||
| Compass/ROSE | ||||||||||||||||||
| Cppcheck Premium | 24.9.0 | premium-cert-env31-c | ||||||||||||||||
| Helix QAC |
| DF4991, DF4992, DF4993 | ||||||||||||||||
| LDRA tool suite |
| 118 S | Fully Implemented | |||||||||||||||
| Parasoft C/C++test |
| CERT_C-ENV31-a | Do not rely on an environment pointer following an operation that may invalidate it | |||||||||||||||
| CERT C: Rule ENV31-C | Checks for environment pointer invalidated by previous operation (rule fully covered) | PRQA QA-C||||||||||||||||
| RuleChecker |
| PRQA QA-C_v | PRQA QA-C_v | 4991, 4992, 4993 | PRQA QA-C++ | |||||||||||||
| Include Page | cplusplus:PRQA QA-C++_V |
| invalidated-system-pointer-use | Partially checked | cplusplus:PRQA QA-C++_V | 4991, 4992, 4993
Related Vulnerabilities
Search for vulnerabilities resulting from the violation of this rule on the CERT website.
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| [IEEE Std 1003.1:2013] | XSH, System Interfaces, setenv |
| [ISO/IEC 9899:20112024] | J.5.12, "Environment Arguments" |
| [MSDN] | getenv, _wgetenv,_putenv_s, _wputenv_s |
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