Log in

Spaces

Hit enter to search
Help
Log in

Pages

Space shortcuts

Dashboard
Secure Coding Home
Android
C
C++
Java
Perl

Page tree

Browse pages

- Attachments (0)
- Page History

Pages
Android Secure Coding Standard
4 By Language
C Coding Language

Jira links

Applicable to Android (C Rules/Recomendations)

Created by Sandy Shrum, last updated on May 07, 2015 1 minute read

Rules

Page:

DCL30-C. Declare objects with appropriate storage durations
Page:

DCL31-C. Declare identifiers before using them
Page:

DCL36-C. Do not declare an identifier with conflicting linkage classifications
Page:

DCL37-C. Do not declare or define a reserved identifier
Page:

DCL39-C. Avoid information leakage when passing a structure across a trust boundary
Page:

DCL40-C. Do not create incompatible declarations of the same function or object
Page:

DCL41-C. Do not declare variables inside a switch statement before the first case label
Page:

ENV30-C. Do not modify the object referenced by the return value of certain functions
Page:

ENV31-C. Do not rely on an environment pointer following an operation that may invalidate it
Page:

ENV32-C. All exit handlers must return normally
Page:

ENV33-C. Do not call system()
Page:

ENV34-C. Do not store pointers returned by certain functions
Page:

ERR30-C. Take care when reading errno
Page:

ERR32-C. Do not rely on indeterminate values of errno
Page:

ERR33-C. Detect and handle standard library errors
Page:

ERR34-C. Detect errors when converting a string to a number
Page:

EXP30-C. Do not depend on the order of evaluation for side effects
Page:

EXP32-C. Do not access a volatile object through a nonvolatile reference
Page:

EXP33-C. Do not read uninitialized memory
Page:

EXP34-C. Do not dereference null pointers
Page:

EXP37-C. Call functions with the correct number and type of arguments
Page:

EXP39-C. Do not access a variable through a pointer of an incompatible type
Page:

EXP40-C. Do not modify constant objects
Page:

EXP42-C. Do not compare padding data
Page:

EXP43-C. Avoid undefined behavior when using restrict-qualified pointers
Page:

EXP44-C. Do not rely on side effects in operands to sizeof, _Alignof, or _Generic
Page:

EXP45-C. Do not perform assignments in selection statements
Page:

EXP46-C. Do not use a bitwise operator with a Boolean-like operand
Page:

FLP30-C. Do not use floating-point variables as loop counters
Page:

INT30-C. Ensure that unsigned integer operations do not wrap
Page:

INT31-C. Ensure that integer conversions do not result in lost or misinterpreted data
Page:

INT32-C. Ensure that operations on signed integers do not result in overflow
Page:

INT33-C. Ensure that division and remainder operations do not result in divide-by-zero errors
Page:

INT34-C. Do not shift an expression by a negative number of bits or by greater than or equal to the number of bits that exist in the operand
Page:

MEM30-C. Do not access freed memory
Page:

MEM31-C. Free dynamically allocated memory when no longer needed
Page:

MEM34-C. Only free memory allocated dynamically
Page:

MEM35-C. Allocate sufficient memory for an object
Page:

MEM36-C. Do not modify the alignment of objects by calling realloc()
Page:

MSC30-C. Do not use the rand() function for generating pseudorandom numbers
Page:

MSC32-C. Properly seed pseudorandom number generators
Page:

MSC33-C. Do not pass invalid data to the asctime() function
Page:

MSC37-C. Ensure that control never reaches the end of a non-void function
Page:

MSC38-C. Do not treat a predefined identifier as an object if it might only be implemented as a macro
Page:

MSC39-C. Do not call va_arg() on a va_list that has an indeterminate value
Page:

MSC40-C. Do not violate constraints
Page:

PRE30-C. Do not create a universal character name through concatenation
Page:

PRE31-C. Avoid side effects in arguments to unsafe macros
Page:

PRE32-C. Do not use preprocessor directives in invocations of function-like macros
Page:

STR30-C. Do not attempt to modify string literals
Page:

STR31-C. Guarantee that storage for strings has sufficient space for character data and the null terminator
Page:

STR32-C. Do not pass a non-null-terminated character sequence to a library function that expects a string
Page:

STR34-C. Cast characters to unsigned char before converting to larger integer sizes
Page:

STR37-C. Arguments to character-handling functions must be representable as an unsigned char
Page:

STR38-C. Do not confuse narrow and wide character strings and functions

Recommendations

Page:

API00-C. Functions should validate their parameters
Page:

API03-C. Create consistent interfaces and capabilities across related functions
Page:

API04-C. Provide a consistent and usable error-checking mechanism
Page:

API07-C. Enforce type safety
Page:

DCL00-C. Const-qualify immutable objects
Page:

DCL01-C. Do not reuse variable names in subscopes
Page:

DCL02-C. Use visually distinct identifiers
Page:

DCL03-C. Use a static assertion to test the value of a constant expression
Page:

DCL04-C. Do not declare more than one variable per declaration
Page:

DCL05-C. Use typedefs of non-pointer types only
Page:

DCL06-C. Use meaningful symbolic constants to represent literal values
Page:

DCL07-C. Include the appropriate type information in function declarators
Page:

DCL08-C. Properly encode relationships in constant definitions
Page:

DCL09-C. Declare functions that return errno with a return type of errno_t
Page:

DCL10-C. Maintain the contract between the writer and caller of variadic functions
Page:

DCL11-C. Understand the type issues associated with variadic functions
Page:

DCL12-C. Implement abstract data types using opaque types
Page:

DCL13-C. Declare function parameters that are pointers to values not changed by the function as const
Page:

DCL15-C. Declare file-scope objects or functions that do not need external linkage as static
Page:

DCL16-C. Use "L," not "l," to indicate a long value
Page:

DCL17-C. Beware of miscompiled volatile-qualified variables
Page:

DCL18-C. Do not begin integer constants with 0 when specifying a decimal value
Page:

DCL19-C. Minimize the scope of variables and functions
Page:

DCL20-C. Explicitly specify void when a function accepts no arguments
Page:

DCL21-C. Understand the storage of compound literals
Page:

DCL22-C. Use volatile for data that cannot be cached
Page:

DCL23-C. Guarantee that mutually visible identifiers are unique
Page:

ENV01-C. Do not make assumptions about the size of an environment variable
Page:

ENV02-C. Beware of multiple environment variables with the same effective name
Page:

ENV03-C. Sanitize the environment when invoking external programs
Page:

ERR00-C. Adopt and implement a consistent and comprehensive error-handling policy
Page:

ERR01-C. Use ferror() rather than errno to check for FILE stream errors
Page:

ERR02-C. Avoid in-band error indicators
Page:

ERR04-C. Choose an appropriate termination strategy
Page:

ERR05-C. Application-independent code should provide error detection without dictating error handling
Page:

ERR06-C. Understand the termination behavior of assert() and abort()
Page:

ERR07-C. Prefer functions that support error checking over equivalent functions that don't
Page:

EXP00-C. Use parentheses for precedence of operation
Page:

EXP02-C. Be aware of the short-circuit behavior of the logical AND and OR operators
Page:

EXP03-C. Do not assume the size of a structure is the sum of the sizes of its members
Page:

EXP05-C. Do not cast away a const qualification
Page:

EXP07-C. Do not diminish the benefits of constants by assuming their values in expressions
Page:

EXP08-C. Ensure pointer arithmetic is used correctly
Page:

EXP09-C. Use sizeof to determine the size of a type or variable
Page:

EXP10-C. Do not depend on the order of evaluation of subexpressions or the order in which side effects take place
Page:

EXP11-C. Do not make assumptions regarding the layout of structures with bit-fields
Page:

EXP12-C. Do not ignore values returned by functions
Page:

EXP13-C. Treat relational and equality operators as if they were nonassociative
Page:

EXP14-C. Beware of integer promotion when performing bitwise operations on integer types smaller than int
Page:

EXP15-C. Do not place a semicolon on the same line as an if, for, or while statement
Page:

EXP16-C. Do not compare function pointers to constant values
Page:

EXP19-C. Use braces for the body of an if, for, or while statement
Page:

EXP20-C. Perform explicit tests to determine success, true and false, and equality
Page:

FLP00-C. Understand the limitations of floating-point numbers
Page:

FLP01-C. Take care in rearranging floating-point expressions
Page:

FLP02-C. Avoid using floating-point numbers when precise computation is needed
Page:

FLP03-C. Detect and handle floating-point errors
Page:

INT00-C. Understand the data model used by your implementation(s)
Page:

INT01-C. Use size_t or rsize_t for all integer values representing the size of an object
Page:

INT02-C. Understand integer conversion rules
Page:

INT04-C. Enforce limits on integer values originating from tainted sources
Page:

INT05-C. Do not use input functions to convert character data if they cannot handle all possible inputs
Page:

INT07-C. Use only explicitly signed or unsigned char type for numeric values
Page:

INT08-C. Verify that all integer values are in range
Page:

INT09-C. Ensure enumeration constants map to unique values
Page:

INT10-C. Do not assume a positive remainder when using the % operator
Page:

INT12-C. Do not make assumptions about the type of a plain int bit-field when used in an expression
Page:

INT13-C. Use bitwise operators only on unsigned operands
Page:

INT14-C. Avoid performing bitwise and arithmetic operations on the same data
Page:

INT15-C. Use intmax_t or uintmax_t for formatted IO on programmer-defined integer types
Page:

INT16-C. Do not make assumptions about representation of signed integers
Page:

INT17-C. Define integer constants in an implementation-independent manner
Page:

INT18-C. Evaluate integer expressions in a larger size before comparing or assigning to that size
Page:

MEM00-C. Allocate and free memory in the same module, at the same level of abstraction
Page:

MEM01-C. Store a new value in pointers immediately after free()
Page:

MEM02-C. Immediately cast the result of a memory allocation function call into a pointer to the allocated type
Page:

MEM03-C. Clear sensitive information stored in reusable resources
Page:

MEM04-C. Beware of zero-length allocations
Page:

MEM05-C. Avoid large stack allocations
Page:

MEM06-C. Ensure that sensitive data is not written out to disk
Page:

MEM07-C. Ensure that the arguments to calloc(), when multiplied, do not wrap
Page:

MEM10-C. Define and use a pointer validation function
Page:

MEM11-C. Do not assume infinite heap space
Page:

MEM12-C. Consider using a goto chain when leaving a function on error when using and releasing resources
Page:

MSC00-C. Compile cleanly at high warning levels
Page:

MSC01-C. Strive for logical completeness
Page:

MSC04-C. Use comments consistently and in a readable fashion
Page:

MSC05-C. Do not manipulate time_t typed values directly
Page:

MSC06-C. Beware of compiler optimizations
Page:

MSC07-C. Detect and remove dead code
Page:

MSC09-C. Character encoding: Use subset of ASCII for safety
Page:

MSC10-C. Character encoding: UTF8-related issues
Page:

MSC11-C. Incorporate diagnostic tests using assertions
Page:

MSC12-C. Detect and remove code that has no effect or is never executed
Page:

MSC13-C. Detect and remove unused values
Page:

MSC14-C. Do not introduce unnecessary platform dependencies
Page:

MSC15-C. Do not depend on undefined behavior
Page:

MSC17-C. Finish every set of statements associated with a case label with a break statement
Page:

MSC18-C. Be careful while handling sensitive data, such as passwords, in program code

applicability-list
c

Overview

Content Tools

Powered by Atlassian Confluence 9.2.12
Printed by Atlassian Confluence 9.2.12
Report a bug
Atlassian News

Carnegie Mellon University
Software Engineering Institute
4500 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2612
412-268-5800

Office Locations|
Additional Sites Directory|
Legal|
Privacy Notice|
CMU Ethics Hotline|
www.sei.cmu.edu

©2025 Carnegie Mellon University

{"serverDuration": 125, "requestCorrelationId": "aabaa6b085580526"}