An object that has volatile-qualified type may be modified in ways unknown to the implementation or have other unknown side effects. It is possible to reference a volatile object by using a non-volatile value, but the resulting behavior is undefined. According to C99 Section 6.7.3, "Type qualifiers," Paragraph 5:
If an attempt is made to refer to an object defined with a volatile-qualified type through use of an lvalue with non-volatile-qualified type, the behavior is undefined.
This also applies to objects that behave as if they were defined with qualified types, such as an object at a memory-mapped input/output address.
Accessing a volatile object through a non-volatile reference results in undefined behavior.
Component |
Value |
|---|---|
Severity |
1 (low) |
Likelihood |
3 (unlikely) |
Remediation cost |
2 (medium) |