CERT C: Rule STR31-C

The Use of dangerous standard function check highlights uses of functions that are inherently dangerous or potentially dangerous given certain circumstances. The following table lists possibly dangerous functions, the risks of using each function, and what function to use instead.

These functions can cause buffer overflow, which attackers can use to infiltrate your program.

The fix depends on the root cause of the defect. Often the result details show a sequence of events that led to the defect. You can implement the fix on any event in the sequence. If the result details do not show the event history, you can trace back using right-click options in the source code and see previous related events. See also Interpret Bug Finder Results in Polyspace Desktop User Interface.

See examples of fixes below.

If you do not want to fix the issue, add comments to your result or code to avoid another review. See:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <iostream>

#define BUFF_SIZE 128


int dangerous_func(char *str)
{
    char dst[BUFF_SIZE];
    int r = 0;

    if (sprintf(dst, "%s", str) == 1) //Noncompliant
    {
        r += 1;
        dst[BUFF_SIZE-1] = '\0';
    }
    
    return r;
}

This example function uses sprintf to copy the string str to dst. However, if str is larger than the buffer, sprintf can cause buffer overflow.

One possible correction is to use snprintf instead and specify a buffer size.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <iostream>

#define BUFF_SIZE 128


int dangerous_func(char *str)
{
    char dst[BUFF_SIZE];
    int r = 0;

    if (snprintf(dst, sizeof(dst), "%s", str) == 1)
    {
        r += 1;
        dst[BUFF_SIZE-1] = '\0';
    }
    
    return r;
}

Missing null in string array occurs when a string does not have enough space to terminate with a null character '\0'.

This defect applies only for projects in C.

A buffer overflow can occur if you copy a string to an array without assuming the implicit null terminator.

If you initialize a character array with a literal, avoid specifying the array bounds.

char three[]  = "THREE";

If the issue occurs after initialization, you might have to increase the size of the array by one to account for the null terminator.

In certain circumstances, you might want to initialize the character array with a sequence of characters instead of a string. In this situation, add comments to your result or code to avoid another review. See:

void countdown(int i)
{
    static char one[5]   = "ONE";
    static char two[5]   = "TWO";
    static char three[5] = "THREE"; //Noncompliant
}

The character array three has a size of 5 and 5 characters 'T', 'H', 'R', 'E', and 'E'. There is no room for the null character at the end because three is only five bytes large.

One possible correction is to change the array size to allow for the five characters plus a null character.

void countdown(int i)
{
    static char one[5]   = "ONE";
    static char two[5]   = "TWO";
    static char three[6] = "THREE";
}

One possible correction is to initialize the string by leaving the array size blank. This initialization method allocates enough memory for the five characters and a terminating-null character.

void countdown(int i)
{
    static char one[5]   = "ONE";
    static char two[5]   = "TWO";
    static char three[]  = "THREE";
}

Buffer overflow from incorrect string format specifier occurs when the format specifier argument for functions such as sscanf leads to an overflow or underflow in the memory buffer argument.

If the format specifier specifies a precision that is greater than the memory buffer size, an overflow occurs. Overflows can cause unexpected behavior such as memory corruption.

Use a format specifier that is compatible with the memory buffer size.

#include <stdio.h>

void func (char *str[]) {
    char buf[32];
    sscanf(str[1], "%33c", buf); //Noncompliant
}

In this example, buf can contain 32 char elements. Therefore, the format specifier %33c causes a buffer overflow.

One possible correction is to use a smaller precision in the format specifier.

#include <stdio.h>

void func (char *str[]) {
    char buf[32];
    sscanf(str[1], "%32c", buf);
}

Destination buffer overflow in string manipulation occurs when certain string manipulation functions write to their destination buffer argument at an offset greater than the buffer size.

For instance, when calling the function sprintf(char* buffer, const char* format), you use a constant string format of greater size than buffer.

Buffer overflow can cause unexpected behavior such as memory corruption or stopping your system. Buffer overflow also introduces the risk of code injection.

One possible solution is to use alternative functions to constrain the number of characters written. For instance:

Another possible solution is to increase the buffer size.

#include <stdio.h>

void func(void) {
    char buffer[20];
    char *fmt_string = "This is a very long string, it does not fit in the buffer";

    sprintf(buffer, fmt_string); //Noncompliant
}

In this example, buffer can contain 20 char elements but fmt_string has a greater size.

One possible correction is to use the snprintf function to enforce length control.

#include <stdio.h>

void func(void) {
    char buffer[20];
    char *fmt_string = "This is a very long string, it does not fit in the buffer";

    snprintf(buffer, 20, fmt_string);
}

Insufficient destination buffer size occurs when the destination buffer in a strcpy operation cannot accommodate the source buffer and a null terminator. This issue is reported if the size of the source buffer is unknown. Consider this code:

int main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
  const char *const input = ((argc && argv[0]) ? argv[0] : "");
  char str[100];
  strcpy(input, str); // Noncompliant
}

Using a destination buffer of insufficient size might allow an attacker to cause a buffer overflow. In the preceding code example, if argv[0] contains 100 or more characters, the strcpy operation results in a buffer overflow.

Before calling the function strcpy(), allocate sufficient memory dynamically. For instance, use the function strlen() to determine the size of the source buffer and then allocate the destination buffer so that its size is greater than the value strlen(source) + 1.

In this example, the size of the source buffer is unknown, while the size of the destination buffer is fixed at 128. The size of the destination buffer might not be sufficient to accommodate the characters from the source buffer and terminate the buffer with a null. Polyspace reports a violation of the rule.

#include <string.h>
  
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
  const char *const source = (argc && argv[0]) ? argv[0] : "";
  char destination[128];
  strcpy(source, destination);//Noncompliant
  
  return 0;
}

This violation is resolved by allocating sufficient memory for the destination buffer. For instance, use the function strlen() to calculate the size of the source buffer and allocate sufficient memory for the destination buffer so that it can accommodate all characters from the source buffer and the null terminator ('\0' ).

#include <string.h>
  
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
  const char *const source = (argc && argv[0]) ? argv[0] : "";
  char* destination = (char *)malloc(strlen(source)+ 1);
  if(destination!=NULL){
      strcpy(source, destination);//Compliant
  }else{
      /*Handle Error*/
  }
  //...
  free(destination);
  return 0;
}