null pointers should not be dereferenced

412-268-5800, If an argument to a function has an invalid value (such as a value outside the domain of the function, or a pointer outside the address space of the program, or a null pointer, or a pointer. A reference to null should never be dereferenced/accessed. Finally, there is the matter of the compliant solution. Note that it doesn't know how to check for non-heap, non-stack. A null pointer in this position causes the read system call to fail with -EINVAL ("Invalid argument"). Replacing broken pins/legs on a DIP IC package, Bulk update symbol size units from mm to map units in rule-based symbology, How do you get out of a corner when plotting yourself into a corner. Automated Detection Null pointer dereferences can happen in path-dependent ways. When you have a variable of non-primitive type, it is a reference to an object. So Bar might not be initialized but then the last line of your example should not be evaluated in this case. Haiku is a free and open-source operating system for PC designed to be binary compatible with the BeOS operating system and embodying the basic ideas of BeOS. This topic was automatically closed 7 days after the last reply. . As a result, this noncompliant code example is vulnerable to a null pointer dereference exploit, because null pointer dereferencing can be permitted on several platforms, for example, by using mmap(2) with the MAP_FIXED flag on Linux and Mac OS X, or by using the shmat() POSIX function with the SHM_RND flag [Liu 2009]. How can we let this pass? The null pointer check for writing or dereferencing should be a compiler flag or library setting. By clicking Post Your Answer, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy. sonarqube We can not disable any rule, sonar do validation in "Sonar way" (actual name of profile :) ), so we will need to mark them "Wont fix" each time it appear again in new code. At worst, it could expose debugging information that would be useful to an attacker, or A value is checked here to see whether it is null, but this value can't be null because it was previously dereferenced and if it were null a null pointer exception would have occurred at the earlier dereference. To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers. Then the reading of the buffer via bstr_printf() will then look at the pointer to process the final output. Dereferencing a null pointer is undefined behavior, typically abnormal program termination. So you can declare a string t and then add characters to the string with a plus sign : t += 'a'; The code you are having issue with is just moving the pointer to the next character which the foreach is already doing. Does a summoned creature play immediately after being summoned by a ready action? In order to fix this, just do the following: BodyType body=res.getBody (); if (body == null || body.getServiceResult () == null) { return; } You can then even reuse body after that. The result of calling such a helper function should be . Interactions/interfaces with C can't use references. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Issues Components. It looks like a logic bug, which can cause a memory leaking. Styling contours by colour and by line thickness in QGIS. 2008-2023 SonarSource S.A., Switzerland. The 4gig boundary will probably be important too with unsigned int in LP64, but since size_t will be 64-bit, there will have to be some truncation that compilers will be able to warn on. Pointer members in structs are not checked. Ticket opened : Thanks a lot for the minimalized reproducer ! Thanks for contributing an answer to Stack Overflow! A common memory-leak idiom, is reallocating storage and assigning its address to a pointer that already points to allocated storage. I don't need to do this validation again. You're in a company-managed project. Trying to understand how to get this basic Fourier Series. vegan) just to try it, does this inconvenience the caterers and staff? This latter use of pointers is a combined boolean/satellite: the pointer being non-null indicates "I have this sister object", and it provides that object. (C11, S7.24.2.1). Hi Andreas, Thanks for the feedback. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. In order to fix this, just do the following: If you are absolutely sure that res.getBody() stays null and is also not modified by another thread, you could also use a //NOSONAR comment in order to suppress the warning. Why are physically impossible and logically impossible concepts considered separate in terms of probability? Solution 1, it looks like, today's solution tomorrow's problem. res.getBody() == null || res.getBody().getServiceResult() == null). And the semantics, as I said, are different. Staging Ground Beta 1 Recap, and Reviewers needed for Beta 2. My question is; is my solution incorrect? Can I tell police to wait and call a lawyer when served with a search warrant? I think "res.getBody() == null" checks null first so it should go to return line, not reach to next if condition. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. Made code more compliant with other rules. Is there a proper earth ground point in this switch box? In the simplest case, this function just returns the result of calling kmalloc. In the complaint version, I like to make source code checking a little quicker by putting parenthesizes around arguments to |= or &= as. How can I check before my flight that the cloud separation requirements in VFR flight rules are met? Browse other questions tagged, Where developers & technologists share private knowledge with coworkers, Reach developers & technologists worldwide, how to handle Sonarlint java:S2259 (Null pointers should not be dereferenced), How Intuit democratizes AI development across teams through reusability. sonarlint complains that A pointer to null (the 0 memory address) should never be dereferenced/accessed. The user_data pointer could be invalid in other ways, such as pointing to freed memory. Sonar is ok. A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. Which @NotNull Java annotation should I use? The same problem we will have with "Add at least one assertion to this test case." 11 Sep, 2006. Im very new to sonar, is there a way to add methods to the whitelist? Off by one error: It is the third example. How can I check before my flight that the cloud separation requirements in VFR flight rules are met? In some situations, however, dereferencing a null pointer can lead to the execution of arbitrary code [Jack 2007,van Sprundel 2006]. Could I capture, and I would be able to glean much security information from the dump? void *pointerVariableName = NULL; Since they are very general in nature, they are also known as generic pointers. I feel my situation is not as complicated. // <------- reported violation: NullPointerException might be thrown as 'bar' is nullable here, https://jira.sonarsource.com/browse/SONARJAVA-1490, https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sonarqube/4752a999-246e-42c2-bbdc-8a44a5564ce9%40googlegroups.com. All content is copyright protected. The only potential null is the return value of list(). Privacy Policy, Detect issues in your GitHub, Azure DevOps Services, Bitbucket Cloud, GitLab repositories. . Browse other questions tagged, Where developers & technologists share private knowledge with coworkers, Reach developers & technologists worldwide. Aaron:I suspect we are talking past each other. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Is it plausible for constructed languages to be used to affect thought and control or mold people towards desired outcomes? What is a serialVersionUID and why should I use it? NULL vs Uninitialized pointer - An uninitialized pointer stores an undefined value. What Is the Difference Between 'Man' And 'Son of Man' in Num 23:19? Null pointer should not be dereferenced , There is no guarantee that subsequent invocations are returning the same value, thats why issue is raised. Note that 7.1.4 explicitly states that a null pointer is not a valid pointer argument. If you say [in] or [out] without a modifier, then the modifier defaults to the pointer_default for the enclosing class. At best, such an exception will cause abrupt program termination. Appropriate typecasting is necessary. The nature of simulating nature: A Q&A with IBM Quantum researcher Dr. Jamie We've added a "Necessary cookies only" option to the cookie consent popup. In C# and Java, all reference types can point to null. Good question! That is why I explicitly check for this in my attempted solution. The above check can't hurt, as I guess you could have a system with a 32-bit size_t that had a ton of memory and had some crazy banking/selector scheme with pointers. In particular, ROSE ensures that any pointer returned by malloc(), calloc(), or realloc() is first checked for NULL before being used (otherwise, it is free()-ed). We. It could be non-null the first time but not the second time, sonar does not know this. Because null pointer dereferencing is UB, the if (!tun) check can be elided entirely by the optimizer (since the tun->sk implies that tun must be non-null). To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers. I guess you could write a proposal to modify the C Standard, but our coding standard is meant to provide guidance for the existing language. Staging Ground Beta 1 Recap, and Reviewers needed for Beta 2, Sonar: Null pointers should not be dereferenced, Why should Java 8's Optional not be used in arguments, Sonar alert : "private" methods that don't access instance data should be "static", sonarLint complains "Null pointers should not be dereferenced (squid:S2259)" despite that possibility being handled, Java: (false?) While the engine is in practice already able to explore code from other files if needed (relying solely on bytecode), we restrain this approach to a limited set of well-known methods from standard libraries, for which we know that behaviors are correctly produced. int changed to size_t and if size_t parameter's is zero, allocate one word. SonarQube Version 6.7.2 (build 37468) But passing 0 to memcpy() is not one of them. When and how should I use a ThreadLocal variable? But even with this, the concerned object it tagged as a possible NullPointerException problem. How can this new ban on drag possibly be considered constitutional? Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. Thanks for the feedback. 1 Answer Sorted by: 2 Your code needs to do something about the possible NullPointerException when some exception is caught, because in this scenario the responseDto will be null. In this case, the difference is the assumption thatmalloc() always returns non-nullfor the second NCCE, whereas the first NCCE has themalloc() abstracted away. There can be a null pointer type for each pointer type, such as a pointer to a character or a pointer to an integer, although this is . which would allow us to systematically observe what you are having. . it could allow an attacker to bypass security measures. I'd guess null pointers are not valid, even though they point to 0 bytes. Unlike reference types, pointer types are not tracked by the default garbage . In the case of the ARM and XScale architectures, the 0x0 address is mapped in memory and serves as the exception vector table; consequently, dereferencing 0x0 did not cause an abnormal program termination. Currently I'm working with SonarQube solving issues but I'm facing a trouble to how handle null pointers that shouldn't be dereferenced. NULL vs Void Pointer - Null pointer is a value, while void pointer is a type. I doubt that "length" of zero is a valid parameter, and although there no copy, but we see memory allocation. Your code needs to do something about the possible NullPointerException when some exception is caught, because in this scenario the responseDto will be null. parsing /proc/self/maps under linux) one might find out whether the pointer points into mapped memory, but this is still not a guarantee of validity because it is very coarse-grained see again the above example. Not the answer you're looking for? Privacy Policy, Detect issues in your GitHub, Azure DevOps Services, Bitbucket Cloud, GitLab repositories. PS: I also tried the code in android studio which uses Lint and got no warnings. That noncompliant code example (it's currently the 3rd) came from the Linux kernel, whose source is publicly available. Not the answer you're looking for? What methods/tools can be used to determine the cause so that you stop the exception from causing the progra. That is only true if possibleNumbers contains no element.. BTW: none of these warnings are shown by . You can compare a pointer with NULL to test for the special condition. Sonar detects that res.getBody() can be null when you do the check res.getBody()==null. In layman's terms, a null pointer is a pointer to an address in the memory space that does not have a meaningful value and cannot be referenced by the calling program, for whatever reason. This issues is displayed by SonarQube. Doing so will cause a NullPointerException to be thrown. However, memory allocation > functions such as kstrdup() may fail and returns NULL. On many platforms, dereferencing a null pointer results in abnormal program termination, but this is not required by the standard. Why is there a voltage on my HDMI and coaxial cables? At worst, it could expose debugging information that would be useful to an attacker, or it could allow an attacker to . How do you ensure that a red herring doesn't violate Chekhov's gun? Do not dereference null pointers Created by Jeffrey Gennari, last modified by Jill Britton on Jan 18, 2023 Dereferencing a null pointer is undefined behavior. I think that checking for user_data being NULL would be an improvement to the CS so long as there is an explicit mention that user_data being NULL is invalid even if length == 0. positive S2637 in SonarQube 6.7.1 LTS, Sonar false positive, "change condition so that it does not always evaluate to true. The value 0 for the number of bytes to copy is not what causes the UB, it's the null pointer value which triggers it. The problem is, I hope this code's result to be <5,3> and <9,6> BUT the console only shows me <5,3> and <9,3>. Pittsburgh, PA 15213-2612 Sonar is ok. Sonar can't determine that the helper method did the null validation. . return p == NULL || (char *)p < &_etext; The solution that I recommend is not work with null returns or variables on Java, try to avoid it. You're in a company-managed project. (In contrast, the case of passing 0 bytes to malloc is addressed in C11.) Believing that dereferencing NULL shouldn't crash the system doesn't make it true. sonar-java. When and how should I use a ThreadLocal variable? ucsi->connector gets dereferenced by both ucsi_connector_change() and ucsi_resume(), both check for ucsi->connector being NULL in case ucsi_init() has not finished yet; or in case ucsi_init() has failed. Whoops, you're right. It's a modular system with the . We have a false positive with the " Null pointers should not be dereferenced -squid:S2259" rule : We have a "NullPointerException" false positive for which we do not know how to solve it. SONAR, SONARSOURCE, SONARLINT, SONARQUBE and SONARCLOUD are trademarks of SonarSource S.A. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. If copying takes place between objects that overlap, the behavior is undefined. This engine is validating execution paths and checking for non-null values or null-check along the way, exploring all the possibilities. Null pointers should not be dereferenced. , NPE : null-, . Not the answer you're looking for? Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Thanks for contributing an answer to Stack Overflow! We cannot understand how there could be a null pointer exception at the reported line. The libpng library allows applications to read, create, and manipulate PNG (Portable Network Graphics) raster image files. Does Counterspell prevent from any further spells being cast on a given turn? You can use Optional instead. Hi @Michael! Agreed. 4500 Fifth Avenue Even if the object is null in this case, it will not give an exception and will print ' null ' to the output stream. Setup is effortless and analysis is automatic for most languages, Fast, accurate analysis; enterprise scalability. The issue is: memcpy() and friends do not explicitly state that a null pointer is a valid pointer value, even if the number of bytes to copy is 0. This compliant solution ensures that both input_str andthe pointer returned by malloc() are not null: This noncompliant code example is from a version of drivers/net/tun.c and affects Linux kernel 2.6.30 [Goodin 2009]: The sk pointer is initialized to tun->sk before checking if tun is a null pointer. The test was added to catch the possibly theoretical situation where the length of input_str was somehow the maximum size for size_t, and adding one to this size in the malloc expression (to allocated space for the trailing null byte) results in an integer overflow. This is indeed a false positive because, at time of writing, the sonarqube java analyzer (version 4.2.1 at time of writing) does not support cross procedural analysis and so it is not able to determine that indeed, for the condition to be true, the value of minRating has to be non null. Recovering from a blunder I made while emailing a professor. Is there a proper earth ground point in this switch box? Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. Seems the analizer don't recognice the logic with the funcional object Optional. What does "Could not find or load main class" mean? Does Java have support for multiline strings? This noncompliant code example is derived from a real-world example taken from a vulnerable version of the libpng library as deployed on a popular ARM-based cell phone [Jack 2007]. Can I tell police to wait and call a lawyer when served with a search warrant? If the pointer is not NULL, see if the assignment occurs only in a branch of a conditional statement.Investigate when that branch does not execute. versions used (SonarQube, Scanner, language analyzer) The approximation of the try catch flow is such that we consider an exception can be thrown just after the curly brace of the try. Avoid Returning null from Methods. to non-modifiable storage when the corresponding parameter is not const-qualified) or a type (after default argument promotion) not expected by a function with a variable number of arguments, the behavior is undefined. I could've fixed this by changing else to else if (B != null && B.length == 1), but doing so rewards me with warning "condition(B != null && B.length == 1) is always true". How to deal with "java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space" error? It's still illegal. A nonnegative return value represents the number of bytes successfully read (the return value is a "signed size" type, usually the native integer type for the target platform). Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. (/). This is a matter of style, and also following code walkthrough. So Bar might not be initialized but then the last line of your example should not be evaluated in this case. What is generic pointer? If malloc() fails, it returns a null pointer that is assigned to c_str. This likely means that youre on an ancient version of the Java analyzer. rev2023.3.3.43278. At ii. This code also violates ERR33-C. Detect and handle standard library errors. Report False-positive / False-negative [LTS] The new SonarQube LTS is here: SONARQUBE 9.9 LTS, S2259: Null pointers should not be dereferenced, find the list of whitelisted methods here, Rule java:S2259: False-positive NullPointerException bug logged when variable is null-checked by an imported method, What is the issue you are observing, in details, What version of SonarSource products you are using, as well as the version of SonarJava. Description: This JSR will work to develop standard annotations (such as @NonNull) that can be applied to Java programs to assist tools that detect software defects. Identify where the allocation occurs. ncdu: What's going on with this second size column? Which ensures that the chunkdata pointer is valid, but makes no such check to the user_data pointer. Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. What is a NullPointerException, and how do I fix it?,What are Null Pointer Exceptions (java.lang.NullPointerException) and what causes them? }. By clicking Post Your Answer, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy. In the meantime, Im locking this thread. Calls to extension methods are not reported because they can still operate on null values. For the time being, I would unfortunately recommend to mark as False Positive the issue. Batch split images vertically in half, sequentially numbering the output files, Recovering from a blunder I made while emailing a professor. Yeah, I suspect once it's possible to allocate 2+gigs contiguously in amainstream install of a modern OS, we'll see a frenzy of new vulnerabilities come out. To be precise, once length is changed to a size_t and cannot take negative values, it cannot have an invalid value. Im currently using SonarQube version 5.6.6. better way to handle this is to store the result of method invocation in a variable. How to tell which packages are held back due to phased updates. Software Engineering Institute The nature of simulating nature: A Q&A with IBM Quantum researcher Dr. Jamie We've added a "Necessary cookies only" option to the cookie consent popup. This cross-file approach analysis can be quite resource-consuming, and we are not ready to openly enable the feature. Did any DOS compatibility layers exist for any UNIX-like systems before DOS started to become outmoded? How to use java.net.URLConnection to fire and handle HTTP requests, Why should Java 8's Optional not be used in arguments, sonarLint complains "Null pointers should not be dereferenced (squid:S2259)" despite that possibility being handled. A reference to null should never be dereferenced/accessed. When exploring such methods, the engine then deduces behaviors regarding null-checking (among other things). It is useful to have a function with portable interface but platform-dependent implementation: extern bool invalid(const void *); In this noncompliant code example, input_str is copied into dynamically allocated memory referenced by c_str. Essentially, this code and the previous dereference disagree as to whether this value is allowed to be null. By 'valid pointers' I mean that both src and dest pointers are not null and they both point to non-overlapping arrays containing at least n bytes each. The article easily misleads the reader into believeing that ensuring pointer validity boils down to checking for pointer being not equal to NULL. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. C static code analysis: Null pointers should not be dereferenced C static code analysis Unique rules to find Bugs, Vulnerabilities, Security Hotspots, and Code Smells in your C code All rules 311 Vulnerability 13 Bug 74 Security Hotspot 18 Code Smell 206 Quick Fix 14 Tags "memset" should not be used to delete sensitive data Vulnerability Do not use a null in a case where an object is required, https://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-4.9/porting_to.html, Prior to 2018-01-12: CERT: Unspecified Relationship, Pointer Casting and Pointer Type Changes [HFC], Dereferencing an out-of-domain pointer [nullref], Section 5.2.18, "Null-Pointer Dereference", Dereferencing null pointers that were not returned by a function. Please direct comments on this JSR to the Spec Lead (s) Team. Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. Why does the second compliant example permit using possibly-null pointers? Cause we need throw our own Runtime Exception, well-known methods wont help. At best, such an exception will cause abrupt program termination. How to use Slater Type Orbitals as a basis functions in matrix method correctly? In C, dereferencing a null pointer is undefined behavior. To create a custom null validation method declare an attribute with name ValidatedNotNullAttribute and mark the parameter that is Iflengthhas the value1, the addition yields 0, and png_malloc() subsequently returns a null pointer, which is assigned to chunkdata. Thus we should check > this kstrdup() operation. Is there a proper earth ground point in this switch box? On such a call, a function that locates a character finds no occurrence, a function that compares two character sequences returns zero, and a function that copies characters copies zero characters. Doing so will cause a NullReferenceException to be thrown. Null pointer should not be dereferenced . The purpose of a NULL pointer is not to cause a processor exception when it is dereferenced (although that is nice to have for debugging.) Staging Ground Beta 1 Recap, and Reviewers needed for Beta 2, Sonar false-positive on rule: Null pointers should not be dereferenced, Null Pointer Dereference issue not detected when the pointer is returned by another function. For example the following program doesn't compile. Which version of SonarJava plugin do you have? Software project. (from res.getBody().getServiceResult() ). I have checked on multiple . Im having trouble understanding your problem. How handle the initialization of "responseDto" without "null" because is throwing the issue on sonar. public boolean isNameEmpty() { return getName().length() == 0; // Noncompliant; the result of getName() could be null, but isn't null-checked } . When B is null, The control reaches inside the main if block only when length of A is 1. Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled. Browse other questions tagged, Where developers & technologists share private knowledge with coworkers, Reach developers & technologists worldwide, SonarQube null pointers should not be dereferenced on try/catch, How Intuit democratizes AI development across teams through reusability. This sounds indeed like a bug in the flow when an exception is raised. SonarQube null pointers should not be dereferenced on try/catch, Sonarcube :Null pointers should not be dereferenced, How do you get out of a corner when plotting yourself into a corner. You need to benchmark. Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Correct; a null pointer is not a valid pointer for the C library functions. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. 3.Null pointers should not be derefer enced/accessed. Finally my method is returning a response with value of restTemplate. It also uses the unsigned type size_t to pass the length parameter, ensuring that negative values are not passed to func(). Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. The method isNR (minRating) is a helper method that validate among other things, if the object minRating is null public boolean isNR (AgencyRating rating) { return rating == null || isNR (rating.getRatgCaam ()); } When I added the not null validation as sonar suggest. null(java.lang.NullPointerException) . attacker to bypass security measures. Possible fix: Assign a valid address to the pointer in all branches of the conditional statement.. Pointer can point to dynamically allocated memory. Obviously the value of that pointer could have changed since the .