EXP42-C. Do not compare padding data

The C Standard, 6.7.3.2 paragraph 19 [ISO/IEC 9899:2024], states

There may be unnamed padding within a structure object, but not at its beginning. . . . There may be unnamed padding at the end of a structure or union.

Subclause 6.7.11, paragraph 10, states that

unnamed members of objects of structure and union type do not participate in initialization. Unnamed members of structure objects have indeterminate representation even after initialization.

The only exception is that padding bits are set to zero when a static or thread-local object is implicitly initialized (paragraph 11): 

If an object that has static or thread storage duration is not initialized explicitly, or any object is initialized with an empty initializer, then it is subject to default initialization, which initializes an object as follows:

—  if it is an aggregate, every member is initialized (recursively) according to these rules, and any padding is initialized to zero bits;

—  if it is a union, the first named member is initialized (recursively) according to these rules, and any padding is initialized to zero bits. 

Because these padding values are unspecified, attempting a byte-by-byte comparison between structures can lead to incorrect results [Summit 1995]. 

Noncompliant Code Example

In this noncompliant code example, memcmp() is used to compare the contents of two structures, including any padding bytes:

#include <string.h>
 
struct s {
  char c;
  int i;
  char buffer[13];
};
 
void compare(const struct s *left, const struct s *right) {  
  if ((left && right) &&
      (0 == memcmp(left, right, sizeof(struct s)))) {
    /* ... */
  }
}

Compliant Solution

In this compliant solution, all of the fields are compared manually to avoid comparing any padding bytes:

#include <string.h>
 
struct s {
  char c;
  int i;
  char buffer[13];
};
 
void compare(const struct s *left, const struct s *right) {  
  if ((left && right) &&
      (left->c == right->c) &&
      (left->i == right->i) &&
      (0 == memcmp(left->buffer, right->buffer, 13))) {
    /* ... */
  }
}

Exceptions

EXP42-C-EX1: A structure can be defined such that the members are aligned properly or the structure is packed using implementation-specific packing instructions. This is true only when the members' data types have no padding bits of their own and when their object representations are the same as their value representations. This frequently is not true for the _Bool type or floating-point types and need not be true for pointers. In such cases, the compiler does not insert padding, and use of functions such as memcmp() is acceptable.

This compliant example uses the #pragma pack compiler extension from Microsoft Visual Studio to ensure the structure members are packed as tightly as possible:

#include <string.h>
 
#pragma pack(push, 1)
struct s {
  char c;
  int i;
  char buffer[13];
};
#pragma pack(pop)
 
void compare(const struct s *left, const struct s *right) {  
  if ((left && right) &&
      (0 == memcmp(left, right, sizeof(struct s)))) {
    /* ... */
  }
}

Risk Assessment

Comparing padding bytes, when present, can lead to unexpected program behavior.

Automated Detection

Related Vulnerabilities

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

Related Guidelines

Key here (explains table format and definitions)

Bibliography