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C++

C++ static code analysis

Unique rules to find Bugs, Vulnerabilities, Security Hotspots, and Code Smells in your C++ code

  • All rules 674
  • Vulnerability13
  • Bug139
  • Security Hotspot19
  • Code Smell503

  • Quick Fix 91
Filtered: 45 rules found
symbolic-execution
    Impact
      Clean code attribute
        1. The address of an automatic object should not be assigned to another object that may persist after the first object has ceased to exist

           Bug
        2. Variables should be initialized before use

           Bug
        3. Variables should not be accessed outside of their scope

           Bug
        4. Well-defined type-punning method should be used instead of a union-based one

           Bug
        5. "std::cmp_*" functions should be used to compare unsigned values with negative values

           Bug
        6. "std::cmp_*" functions should be used to compare signed and unsigned values

           Code Smell
        7. Account validity should be verified when authenticating users with PAM

           Vulnerability
        8. Changing directories improperly when using "chroot" is security-sensitive

           Security Hotspot
        9. POSIX functions should not be called with arguments that trigger buffer overflows

           Vulnerability
        10. Immediately dangling references and pointers should not be created

           Bug
        11. Server hostnames should be verified during SSL/TLS connections

           Vulnerability
        12. "pthread_mutex_t" should be unlocked in the reverse order they were locked

           Bug
        13. Only valid arguments should be passed to UNIX/POSIX functions

           Code Smell
        14. "pthread_mutex_t" should be properly initialized and destroyed

           Bug
        15. "pthread_mutex_t" should not be locked when already locked, or unlocked when already unlocked

           Bug
        16. Only valid arguments should be passed to stream functions

           Code Smell
        17. Using publicly writable directories is security-sensitive

           Security Hotspot
        18. Using clear-text protocols is security-sensitive

           Security Hotspot
        19. Blocking functions should not be called inside critical sections

           Code Smell
        20. Return value of "setuid" family of functions should always be checked

           Code Smell
        21. Size of variable length arrays should be greater than zero

           Code Smell
        22. "mktemp" family of functions templates should have at least six trailing "X"s

           Code Smell
        23. Appropriate size arguments should be passed to "strncat" and "strlcpy"

           Code Smell
        24. Moved-from objects should not be relied upon

           Code Smell
        25. Server certificates should be verified during SSL/TLS connections

           Vulnerability
        26. Weak SSL/TLS protocols should not be used

           Vulnerability
        27. Integral operations should not overflow

           Bug
        28. Parameter values should be appropriate

           Bug
        29. Stack allocated memory and non-owned memory should not be freed

           Bug
        30. Closed resources should not be accessed

           Bug
        31. Dynamically allocated memory should be released

           Bug
        32. Freed memory should not be used

           Bug
        33. Memory locations should not be released more than once

           Bug
        34. Memory access should be explicitly bounded to prevent buffer overflows

           Bug
        35. Zero should not be a possible denominator

           Bug
        36. XML parsers should not be vulnerable to XXE attacks

           Vulnerability
        37. "nonnull" parameters and return values of "returns_nonnull" functions should not be null

           Bug
        38. Null pointers should not be dereferenced

           Bug
        39. Member variables should be initialized

           Bug
        40. Resources should be closed

           Bug
        41. Unused assignments should be removed

           Code Smell
        42. Appropriate memory de-allocation should be used

           Bug
        43. An object shall not be accessed outside of its lifetime

           Bug
        44. Reads and writes on the same file stream shall be separated by a positioning operation

           Bug
        45. The value of an object must not be read before it has been set

           Bug

        Dynamically allocated memory should be released

        intentionality - complete
        reliability
        Bug
        • cwe
        • symbolic-execution
        • leak
        • denial-of-service
        • cert

        Memory allocated dynamically with calloc, malloc, realloc, or new should be released when it is not needed anymore. Failure to do so will result in a memory leak that could severely hinder application performance or abort it or the entire host machine.

        Why is this an issue?

        How can I fix it?

        More Info

        Memory is a limited resource shared between all the applications running on the same host machine.

        C and C++ do not automatically reclaim unused memory. The developer has to release the memory claimed for their application that is no longer needed. Unlike the stack that automatically allocates local variables on a function call and deallocates them on a function return, the heap offers no automatic memory management. The developer has to make sure to deallocate the memory they allocate dynamically on the heap.

        This rule raises an issue when memory is allocated dynamically and not freed within the same function.

        What is the potential impact?

        Neglecting to free the memory leads to a memory leak.

        The application that leaks memory will consume more and more of it over time, eventually claiming all the memory available on the host machine. When this happens and the system runs out of memory, it typically does one of the following:

        • The operating system (if any) terminates the application.
        • The operating system (if any) terminates some other application, and the problem reoccurs when the reclaimed memory gets used up by the leaking application.
        • The operating system (if any) starts offloading some of the memory pages to disk and slows down some memory accesses by orders of magnitude.
        • The entire system crashes as a whole and reboots automatically or hangs waiting for a manual reboot.

        Moreover, memory leaks can help an attacker to take over the system. An attacker could use a memory leak to fill the memory with malicious code. This facilitates remote code execution through another chained vulnerability.

        Even if the attacker cannot take over the system she can intentionally trigger the condition leading to a memory leak to make use of the issue above and cause denial-of-service (DoS) of the system.

        A memory leak can have a significant impact on the energy footprint of an application.

        • If an application demands more memory than necessary, the user will have to install more memory banks than necessary. Each memory bank consumes additional power.
        • As the application continues to reserve more and more memory, it places an increased load on the memory management subsystem. This increased load can lead to a larger computation demand, which in turn translates to higher power consumption by the CPU.

        Finally, memory leaks degrade the user experience. The user often experiences a system slowdown caused by the uncontrolled memory use of an application. Delayed response time, system freezes, and crashes degrade the user experience and discourage the further use of the application.

        Exceptions

        If a function returns a pointer to the caller or stores it in an external structure, this pointer is said to escape (it is now accessible outside of function, and no longer local to it). This includes storing the pointer in a static or global variable, passing it to a function that can potentially do that, or returning the pointer directly or as part of an aggregate object.

        The memory pointed to by an escaping pointer might be used somewhere else in the program. For that reason, the analyzer cannot proclaim a leak for an escaping pointer by only looking at a function scope.

        While in some cases the leak might be detectable in the scope of a caller, in others, the analyzer would need to simulate the entire program to verify that the memory is not used anywhere, which is not feasible.

        For this technical reason, this rule often ignores escaping pointers.

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