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The C Standard identifies five distinct situations in which undefined behavior (UB) may arise as a result of invoking a function using a declaration that is incompatible with its definition or by supplying incorrect types or numbers of arguments:
| UB | Description |
A pointer is used to call a function whose type is not compatible with the referenced type (6.3.2.3). | |
For a call to a function without a function prototype in scope, the number of arguments does not equal the number of parameters (6.5.2.2). | |
For a call to a function without a function prototype in scope where the function is defined with a function prototype, either the prototype ends with an ellipsis or the types of the arguments after promotion are not compatible with the types of the parameters (6.5.2.2). | |
| For a call to a function without a function prototype in scope where the function is not defined with a function prototype, the types of the arguments after promotion are not compatible with those of the parameters after promotion (with certain exceptions) (6.5.2.2). | |
A function is defined with a type that is not compatible with the type (of the expression) pointed to by the expression that denotes the called function (6.5.2.2). |
Functions that are appropriately declared (as in DCL40-C. Do not create incompatible declarations of the same function or object) will typically generate a compiler diagnostic message if they are supplied with the wrong number or types of arguments. However, there are cases in which supplying the incorrect arguments to a function will, at best, generate compiler warnings. Although such warnings should be resolved, they do not prevent program compilation. (See MSC00-C. Compile cleanly at high warning levels.)
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Functions That Should Not Be Called with Complex Values
atan2() | erf | fdim | fmin | ilogb | llround | logb | nextafter | rint | tgamma |
cbrt | erfc | floor | fmod | ldexp | log10 | lrint | nexttoward | round | trunc |
ceil | exp2 | fma | frexp | lgamma | log1p | lround | remainder | scalbn |
copysign | expm1 | fmax | hypot | llrint | log2 | nearbyint | remquo | scalbln |
This noncompliant code example attempts to take the base-2 logarithm of a complex number, resulting in undefined behavior:
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Calling a function with incorrect arguments can result in unexpected or unintended program behavior.
Rule | Severity | Likelihood | Remediation Cost | Priority | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
EXP37-C | Medium | Probable | High | P4 | L3 |
Automated Detection
| Tool | Version | Checker | Description | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Astrée |
|
| Supported, but no explicit checker | |||||||||
| CodeSonar |
| LANG.FUNCS.APM | Array parameter mismatch | ||||||
| Compass/ROSE |
Can detect some violations of this rule. In particular, it ensures that all calls to | |||||||||
| Coverity |
| MISRA C 2012 Rule 8.2 MISRA C 2012 Rule 17.3 | Implemented Relies on functions declared with prototypes, allow compiler to check | ||||||
| CC2.EXP37 | Partially implemented | |||||||
| EDG |
| GCC |
|
Can detect violation of this rule when the | ||||||||
| Klocwork |
| MISRA.FUNC.UNMATCHED.PARAMS |
| LDRA tool suite |
| 41 D, 21 S, 98 S, 170 S, 496 S, 576 S | Partially implemented | ||||||
| Polyspace Bug Finder | R2016a | Mismatch between function or variable declarations Variable qualifier is lost during conversion
Argument to a standard function does not meet requirements for use in the function
String specifiers do not match corresponding arguments Function pointer cast to another function pointer with different argument or return type | |||||||
| PRQA QA-C++ | 4.1 | 0403 |
| PRQA QA-C |
| 1331, 1332, 1333, 3002, 3320, 3335 | Partially implemented | ||||||
| SonarQube C/C++ Plugin |
| S930 | Detects incorrect argument count | ||||||
| PVS-Studio | 6.22 | V540, V541, V549, V575, V632, V639, V666, V671, V742, V743, V764, V1004 | General analysis rule set |
Related Vulnerabilities
Search for vulnerabilities resulting from the violation of this rule on the CERT website.
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Key here (explains table format and definitions)
Taxonomy | Taxonomy item | Relationship |
|---|---|---|
| CERT C Secure Coding Standard | DCL07-C. Include the appropriate type information in function declarators | Prior to 2018-01-12: CERT: Unspecified Relationship |
| CERT C Secure Coding Standard | MSC00-C. Compile cleanly at high warning levels | Prior to 2018-01-12: CERT: Unspecified Relationship |
| CERT C Secure Coding Standard | FIO06-C. Create files with appropriate access permissions | Prior to 2018-01-12: CERT: Unspecified Relationship |
| ISO/IEC TR 24772:2013 | Subprogram Signature Mismatch [OTR] | Prior to 2018-01-12: CERT: Unspecified Relationship |
| ISO/IEC TS 17961 | Calling functions with incorrect arguments [argcomp] | Prior to 2018-01-12: CERT: Unspecified Relationship |
| MISRA C:2012 | Rule 8.2 (required) | Prior to 2018-01-12: CERT: Unspecified Relationship |
| MISRA C:2012 | Rule 17.3 (mandatory) | Prior to 2018-01-12: CERT: Unspecified Relationship |
| CWE 2.11 | CWE-628, Function Call with Incorrectly Specified Arguments | 2017-07-05: CERT: Rule subset of CWE |
CERT-CWE Mapping Notes
Key here for mapping notes
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- Wrong argument values or references
Bibliography
| [CVE] | CVE-2006-1174 |
| [ISO/IEC 9899:2011] | 6.3.2.3, "Pointers" 6.5.2.2, "Function Calls" |
| [IEEE Std 1003.1:2013] | open() |
| [Spinellis 2006] | Section 2.6.1, "Incorrect Routine or Arguments" |
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