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Dereferencing an invalid pointer results in undefined behavior, typically abnormal program termination.  In some situations, however, dereferencing a nullNULL pointer can lead to the execution of arbitrary code \[[van Sprundel 06|AA. C References#van Sprundel 06], [Jack 07|AA. C References#Jack 07]\].  The indicated severity is for this more severe case; on platforms where it is not possible to exploit a nullNULL pointer dereference to execute arbitrary code the actual severity is low.

\[[ISO/IEC 9899-1999|AA. C References#ISO/IEC 9899-1999]\] Section 6.3.2.3, "Pointers"
\[[Jack 07|AA. C References#Jack 07]\]
\[[van Sprundel 06|AA. C References#van Sprundel 06]\]
\[[Viega 05|AA. C References#Viega 05]\] Section 5.2.18, "Null-pointer dereference"