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9.5
ToolVersionCheckerDescription
Astrée
Include Page
Astrée_V
Astrée_V
null-dereferencingFully checked
CodeSonar
Include Page
CodeSonar_V
CodeSonar_V

LANG.MEM.NPD
LANG.STRUCT.NTAD
LANG.STRUCT.UPD

Null pointer dereference
Null test after dereference
Unchecked parameter dereference

Compass/ROSE  

Can detect violations of this rule. 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). 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)

Coverity

 

Include Page
Coverity_V
Coverity_V

CHECKED_RETURN

NULL_RETURNS

REVERSE_INULL

FORWARD_NULL

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 against NULL but then dereferenced anyway. Coverity Prevent cannot discover all violations of this rule, so further verification is necessary

Cppcheck
Include Page
Cppcheck_V
Cppcheck_V
nullPointer, nullPointerDefaultArg, nullPointerRedundantCheck

Context sensitive analysis

Detects when NULL is dereferenced (Array of pointers is not checked. Pointer members in structs are not checked.)

Finds instances where a pointer is checked against NULL and then later dereferenced

Identifies code that dereferences a pointer and then checks the pointer against NULL

Does not guess that return values from malloc(), strchr(), etc., can be NULL (The return value from malloc() is NULL only if there is OOMo and the dev might not care to handle that. The return value from strchr() is often NULL, but the dev might know that a specific strchr() function call will not return NULL.)

Klocwork
Include Page
Klocwork_V
Klocwork_V

NPD.CHECK.CALL.MIGHT
NPD.CHECK.CALL.MUST
NPD.CHECK.MIGHT
NPD.CHECK.MUST
NPD.CONST.CALL
NPD.CONST.DEREF
NPD.FUNC.CALL.MIGHT
NPD.FUNC.CALL.MUST
NPD.FUNC.MIGHT
NPD.FUNC.MUST
NPD.GEN.CALL.MIGHT
NPD.GEN.CALL.MUST
NPD.GEN.MIGHT
NPD.GEN.MUST
RNPD.CALL
RNPD.DEREF

 
LDRA tool suite
Include Page
LDRA_V
LDRA_V

45 D, 123 D, 128 D, 129 D, 130 D, 131 D, 652 S

Fully implemented
Parasoft C/C++test
Include Page
c:Parasoft_V
c:Parasoft_V
BD-PB-NPFully implemented
Parasoft Insure++  Runtime analysis
Polyspace Bug FinderR2016a Arithmetic operation with NULL pointer,
Null pointer,
Use of tainted pointer
 

Arithmetic operation performed on NULL pointer

NULL pointer dereferenced

Pointer from an unsecure source may be NULL or point to unknown memory

PRQA QA-C++ 2810, 2811, 2812, 2813, 2814, 2820, 2821, 2822, 2823, 2824 
PRQA QA-C
Include Page
PRQA QA-C_v
PRQA QA-C_v

2810, 2811, 2812, 2813, 2814, 2820, 2821, 2822, 2823, 2824 

Fully implemented
SonarQube C/C++ Plugin
Include Page
SonarQube C/C++ Plugin_V
SonarQube C/C++ Plugin_V
S2259 
Splint
Include Page
Splint_V
Splint_V
  

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