The issue arises when dereferenced pointers are used. You need to benchmark. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. Cause we need throw our own Runtime Exception, well-known methods wont help. Thered be huge value in jumping onto the latest version of the ecosystem (notably SonarQube), and benefit from all latest analyzers (e.g. 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. By clicking Post Your Answer, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy. 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. OpenSSL Releases Security Update - NHS Digital Using platform-specific means (e.g. The SonarJava SE engine is however, by default, not configured to explore methods declared in other files (in your case, your utility class CheckUtils). Solution 1, it looks like, today's solution tomorrow's problem. The issue of passing n=0 to memcpy() is distinct from null or invalid pointers. It does not point to any area of memory. It's a modular system with the . [JAVA] 3.9 - FP for S2259 Null pointers should not be dereferenced What should you do if somebody passes a null pointer for a parameter MSBuild SonarQube Runner Resharper Plugin receives skipping info errors File not in sonarqube, SonarQube jenkins plugin returns "Server returned HTTP response code: -1, message: 'null' for URL: https://api.github.com/user", SonarQube: Ignore issues in blocks not working with regex, sonarLint complains "Null pointers should not be dereferenced (squid:S2259)" despite that possibility being handled, Java: (false?) The idea is not to guarantee validity, but to catch a substantial number of problems that could occur. At worst, it could expose debugging information that would be useful to an attacker, or By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. Null pointer - Wikipedia Such long getter chains can also be replaced with Optional + map + ifPresent lambda style. I've changed it to say null pointer instead of invalid pointer. It's even called out explicitly in C17 7.24.1p2: Where an argument declared as size_t n specifies the length of the array for a function, n can have the value zero on a call to that function. How do I align things in the following tabular environment? Your assertion is not backed by the wording in the standard, nor by common implementer understanding. New replies are no longer allowed. A null pointer in this position causes the read system call to fail with -EINVAL ("Invalid argument"). Automated Detection Null pointer dereferences can happen in path-dependent ways. Perhaps this could be done with a special constraint that will notify the SE engine that we learned from a Debug.Assert call. In the complaint version, I like to make source code checking a little quicker by putting parenthesizes around arguments to |= or &= as. A reference to null should never be dereferenced/accessed. ), NPD.CHECK.CALL.MIGHTNPD.CHECK.CALL.MUSTNPD.CHECK.MIGHTNPD.CHECK.MUSTNPD.CONST.CALLNPD.CONST.DEREFNPD.FUNC.CALL.MIGHTNPD.FUNC.CALL.MUSTNPD.FUNC.MIGHTNPD.FUNC.MUSTNPD.GEN.CALL.MIGHTNPD.GEN.CALL.MUSTNPD.GEN.MIGHTNPD.GEN.MUSTRNPD.CALLRNPD.DEREF, 45 D, 123 D, 128 D, 129 D, 130 D, 131 D, 652 S, Checks for use of null pointers (rule partially covered). LANG.MEM.NPDLANG.STRUCT.NTADLANG.STRUCT.UPD, Null pointer dereferenceNull test after dereferenceUnchecked parameter dereference, Can detect violations of this rule. What Is the Difference Between 'Man' And 'Son of Man' in Num 23:19? Software Engineering Institute As for copy vs pointer/reference - it depends. We. So Bar might not be initialized but then the last line of your example should not be evaluated in this case. sonar-java. Revert Update S2259: "Null pointer dereference" CFG should ignore expressions in Debug.Assert #397 Introduce means to not raise "Expression always true/false" on values that were checked with Debug.Assert. EXP34-C is a common consequence of ignoring function return values, but it is a distinct error, and can occur in other scenarios too. assigning to dereferenced struct pointers PDF Fourth Coccinelle Workshop { Exercises Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. 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. sonarLint (3.2.) Null Pointer There is no guarantee that subsequent invocations are returning the same value, thats why issue is raised. Hello. positive S2637 in SonarQube 6.7.1 LTS, SonarQube for MSBuild not reporting quality issues, getTextContent() through "Null pointers should not be dereferenced". Null pointers should not be dereferenced (#42) Issues - GitLab "After the incident", I started to be more careful not to trip over things. How do I align things in the following tabular environment? Null pointer should not be dereferenced . The problem is that something like %*pbl which reads a bitmask, will save the pointer to the bitmask in the buffer. 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. 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. Browse other questions tagged, Where developers & technologists share private knowledge with coworkers, Reach developers & technologists worldwide, It is a false positive, but it might be a good idea not to do the, Sonar false-positive on rule: Null pointers should not be dereferenced, How Intuit democratizes AI development across teams through reusability. You're in a company-managed project. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. Basically, yes. NullPointerException is thrown when program attempts to use an object reference that has the null value. Recovering from a blunder I made while emailing a professor. How to avoid dereferencing null pointers in Java - Quora It is generally accepted that zeroing a pointer is a good way to mark it as invalid and dereferencing an invalid pointer is a bug. uninitialized reference-type class members. ncdu: What's going on with this second size column? 3.7. The chunkdata pointer is later used as a destination argument in a call to memcpy(), resulting in user-defined data overwriting memory starting at address 0. It also uses the unsigned type size_t to pass the length parameter, ensuring that negative values are not passed to func(). 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. When a variable is declared as being a pointer to type void, it is known as a generic pointer. Is it possible to create a concave light? 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.) 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. At worst, it could expose debugging information that would be useful to an attacker or it could allow an (/). In the simplest case, this function just returns the result of calling kmalloc. Does it just mean failing to correctly check if a value is null? A bug can cause them never to be reassigned. Is a PhD visitor considered as a visiting scholar? [PATCH] drm_edid-load: Fix a missing-check bug in drivers/gpu/drm/drm All content is copyright protected. If you say [in] or [out] without a modifier, then the modifier defaults to the pointer_default for the enclosing class. Is there a single-word adjective for "having exceptionally strong moral principles"? Additionally, if input_str is a null pointer, the call to strlen() dereferences a null pointer, also resulting in undefined behavior. Removing the check "exception != null" raises S2259 "Null pointers should not be dereferenced" on "throw exception". Im very new to sonar, is there a way to add methods to the whitelist? My question is; is my solution incorrect? . Null Pointers - Keil forum - Support forums - Arm Community In C# and Java, all reference types can point to null. Pointer is so confusing : Stack with singly linked list in C - Stack Just because something is a pointer does not mean you should call delete . Agreed. And fwstr > is dereferenced in the following codes. That interpretation of the standard is not supported universally. In case the hash algorithm used for the signature is known to the OpenSSL library but the implementation of the hash algorithm is not available the digest initialization will fail. sonarlint, sonarLint (3.2.) Accessing or modifying a null object's field. Obviously the value of that pointer could have changed since the . C# static code analysis: Null pointers should not be dereferenced Products In-IDE IDE extension that lets you fix coding issues before they exist! Share Improve this answer Follow answered Oct 5, 2017 at 16:27 Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. That noncompliant code example (it's currently the 3rd) came from the Linux kernel, whose source is publicly available. Coverity Prevent cannot discover all violations of this rule, so further verification is necessary, Detects when NULL is dereferenced (Array of pointers is not checked. By clicking Post Your Answer, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy. I would also guess that pointers that point to the one-past-the-end of an array are also invalid. PS: I also tried the code in android studio which uses Lint and got no warnings. Find null smart pointer dereferences with the Clang Static Analyzer That is only true if possibleNumbers contains no element.. BTW: none of these warnings are shown by . When B is null, The control reaches inside the main if block only when length of A is 1. We can see that at obj.run(), obj can not be null, but is pointed out by Sonar. That is why I explicitly check for this in my attempted solution. Possible fix: Assign a valid address to the pointer in all branches of the conditional statement.. Pointer can point to dynamically allocated memory. I'd guess WG14 has considered these questions, but I haven't until now :). Null Pointer Exception In Java - GeeksforGeeks - A computer science The Clang Static Analyzer already has a checker to find the null pointer dereference in code, however it is not sufficient for higher abstractions such as C++ smart pointers or optionals. ROSE does not handle cases where an allocation is assigned to an lvalue that is not a variable (such as a struct member or C++ function call returning a reference), Finds instances where a pointer is checked against NULL and then later dereferenced, Identifies functions that can return a null pointer but are not checked, Identifies code that dereferences a pointer and then checks the pointer against NULL, Can find the instances where NULL is explicitly dereferenced or a pointer is checked againstNULL but then dereferenced anyway. The article easily misleads the reader into believeing that ensuring pointer validity boils down to checking for pointer being not equal to NULL. [squid:S2259] False positive - "Null pointers should not be dereferenced" 0 is certainly within the 'domain of the function' (a phrase defined by mathematics but not by C11), as copying 0 bytes is well-understood (although silly). In the first compliant example it's useless to do allocation if the essential pointer user_data is NULL. When and how should I use a ThreadLocal variable? Is it possible to create a concave light? What does it mean that a reference must refer to an object, not a dereferenced null pointer? Phew, we're agreed here. positive S2637 in SonarQube 6.7.1 LTS, Sonar false positive, "change condition so that it does not always evaluate to true. 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?) Seems the analizer don't recognice the logic with the funcional object Optional. > Further, if kstrdup() returns NULL, we should return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM) to > the caller site. Note that 7.1.4 explicitly states that a null pointer is not a valid pointer argument. SonarJava. To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers. But what exactly does it mean to "dereference a null pointer"? Staging Ground Beta 1 Recap, and Reviewers needed for Beta 2. Could I capture, and I would be able to glean much security information from the dump? Check whether a String is not Null and not Empty. Do "superinfinite" sets exist? Discover SonarLint SaaS Setup is effortless and analysis is automatic for most languages Discover SonarCloud Self-Hosted Fast, accurate analysis; enterprise scalability Discover SonarQube Secrets ABAP Also, the term 'pointer' is bad (but maybe it comes from the FindBugs tool): Java doesn't have pointers, it has references. rev2023.3.3.43278. There are other problems with this code, as is noted in the rule. (in the meantime, in case of any other false-positive suspicion, make sure to check those latest versions as bunch of improvements are regularly released). Software project. Reports. Dereferencing a null pointer results in undefined behavior. 1. Introduction - Understanding and Using C Pointers [Book] Review and Fix Illegally Dereferenced Pointer Checks Issues Components. Null - Hi @Michael! By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. which would allow us to systematically observe what you are having. We can get a reference to point to null in the following ways: "uninitialized" reference type variables variables which are initialized with nulls and are assigned their real value afterward. How can we prove that the supernatural or paranormal doesn't exist? Depending on whether the pointer is valid (i.e. In the code, we check the not nullity with java.util.Objects.nonNull(). Is there a single-word adjective for "having exceptionally strong moral principles"? http://blog.llvm.org/2011/05/what-every-c-programmer-should-know_14.html. I believe in this case, either expression would work. Can I tell police to wait and call a lawyer when served with a search warrant? versions used (SonarQube, Scanner, language analyzer) When I scan with sonar-lint in idea, it seams white list is useful, but when use sonar-scanner, always FP, org.springframework.util.CollectionUtils#isEmpty There is no legitimate reason to dereference a null pointer unless you on a rare system that maps page zero (or you intend your program to crash). The null pointer check for writing or dereferencing should be a compiler flag or library setting. 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. res.getBody() == null || res.getBody().getServiceResult() == null). NULL vs Uninitialized pointer - An uninitialized pointer stores an undefined value. The return value from strchr() is often NULL, but the dev might know that a specific strchr() function call will not return NULL. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Explain about call by reference with an . Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. PS: I also tried the code in android studio which uses Lint and got no warnings. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. void *pointerVariableName = NULL; Since they are very general in nature, they are also known as generic pointers. Two null pointers will always be equal to each other. Doing so will cause a NullPointerException to be thrown. What is the point of Thrower's Bandolier? Best to cite C11 s7.24.2.1 here: The memcpy function copies n characters from the object pointed to by s2 into the object pointed to by s1. Is there a proper earth ground point in this switch box? To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. 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. I have checked on multiple . Unless explicitly stated otherwise in the description of a particular function in this subclause, pointer arguments on such a call shall still have valid values, as described in 7.1.4. After that, you call res.getBody() again. When should pointers be checked for NULL in C? Why pointers are not used in python? Explained by Sharing Culture We cannot understand how there could be a null pointer exception at the reported line. (from res.getBody().getServiceResult() ). To be precise, once length is changed to a size_t and cannot take negative values, it cannot have an invalid value. 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. Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled. My below code where I'm calling a stored procedure is giving a null pointer exception. So let me be more precise in my wording: I assert that a platform whose memcpy() did anything besides copy zero bytes when given n=0 and valid src and dest pointers was not C-standards-compliant. Just a few words about the rule now. Maybe one of these methods is already doing what your methods is doing, and could be considered as replacement. Since SIZE_MAX represents the largest possible object, the largest possible string would then be SIZE_MAX-1 characters long (excluding '\0'). Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. This is indeed an obvious False Positive from the rule. One could argue that all code examples would be redundant with the first pair. The only potential null is the return value of list(). The null concept refers to the idea that a pointer can hold a special value that is not equal to another pointer. At worst, it could expose debugging information that would be useful to an attacker, or it could allow an attacker to bypass security measures. Reports. Ticket opened : Thanks a lot for the minimalized reproducer ! False-positives are pointed out in other SO posts (1 & 2), where nulls are involved across functions and procedures. How to deal with "java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space" error? And if there is no pointer_default declaration, then the default default is ref. But passing 0 to memcpy() is not one of them. VB.NET static code analysis: Null pointers should not be dereferenced See the "Null pointer checks may be optimized away more aggressively" section inhttps://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-4.9/porting_to.htmlas an example with one common implementation. Why does Mister Mxyzptlk need to have a weakness in the comics? [RSPEC-2259] - Jira U1 merged - It is a great text book for learning about linux devices. 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. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. 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. Unfortunately the problem is much more complex, and generally unsolvable within standard C. Consider the following example: There's no way f can check whether x points into valid memory or not. 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. 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]. 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. Sonar: Null pointers should not be dereferenced - Stack Overflow What is a NullPointerException, and how do I fix it?,What are Null Pointer Exceptions (java.lang.NullPointerException) and what causes them? To create a custom null validation method declare an attribute with name ValidatedNotNullAttribute and mark the parameter that is Browse other questions tagged, Where developers & technologists share private knowledge with coworkers, Reach developers & technologists worldwide. Does Java have support for multiline strings? () [4] Dereferencing > this null pointer may cause the kernel go wrong. This likely means that youre on an ancient version of the Java analyzer. Thank you for clarifying your assertion until I understood it properly. Not the answer you're looking for? Unlike reference types, pointer types are not tracked by the default garbage . Essentially, this code and the previous dereference disagree as to whether this value is allowed to be null. Privacy Policy, Detect issues in your GitHub, Azure DevOps Services, Bitbucket Cloud, GitLab repositories. This sounds indeed like a bug in the flow when an exception is raised. At best, such an exception will cause abrupt program termination. The solution that I recommend is not work with null returns or variables on Java, try to avoid it. 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). Small typo nit: "such as if i t pointed to freed memory" meant to say "if it" instead (removing whitespace). I believe that dereferencing NULL should not crash the system, should not allow a write to a NULL pointer area, but should always set errno, If I am a hacker, could I trap a null failure that would force a memory dump. IMHO, the rule title should be changed to something less general. We really appreciate your help. context.RaiseException , (/) The alert is related to the sonar rule : Null pointers should not be dereferenced. Find centralized, trusted content and collaborate around the technologies you use most. // <------- 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. 11 Sep, 2006. validated for null in your method declaration with it: 2008-2023 SonarSource S.A., Switzerland. Mutually exclusive execution using std::atomic? 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. Now (sonarqube java analyzer version 4.3.0.7717) it's supported and works fine.