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Noncompliant Code Example

Wiki MarkupThis noncompliant code example demonstrates how dead code can be introduced into a program \ [[Fortify 2006|AA. Bibliography#Fortify 06]\]. The second conditional statement, {{if (s)}}, will never evaluate true because it requires that {{s}} not be assigned {{NULL}}, and the only path where {{s}} can be assigned a non\-{{NULL}} value ends with a return statement.

int func(int condition) {
    char *s = NULL;
    if (condition) {
        s = (char *)malloc(10);
        if (s == NULL) {
           /* Handle Error */
        }
        /* Process s */
        return 0;
    }
    /* ... */
    if (s) {
        /* This code is never reached */
    }
    return 0;
}

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MITRE CWE: CWE-561, "Dead Code"

Bibliography

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\[[Fortify 2006|AA. Bibliography#Fortify 06]\] Code Quality, "Dead Code"

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MSC06-C. Be aware of compiler optimization when dealing with sensitive data      49. Miscellaneous (MSC)      MSC09-C. Character Encoding - Use Subset of ASCII for Safety