Page History

...

The result has the same sign as the dividend (the first operand in the expression).

Noncompliant Code Example

In this noncompliant example, the integer hash references an element of the hash table. However, since hash is not guaranteed to be positive, the lookup function may fail, producing a java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException on all negative inputs.

private int size=16;
	
public int[] hashTable=new int[size];
	
public int lookup(int hash)
{
  return hashTable[hash % size];
}

Compliant Solution

A compliant solution can call a function that returns a true (always positive) modulus.

...

private int size=16;
	
public int[] hashTable=new int[size];
	
public int lookup(int hash)
{
  if(hash < 0)
    return hashTable[(-hash) % size];
  return hashTable[hash % size];
}

Risk Assessment

Automated Detection

Unknown

Other Languages

This rule appears in the C Secure Coding Standard as INT10-C. Do not assume a positive remainder when using the % operator, and INT10-CPP. Do not assume a positive remainder when using the % operator,

References

\[[JLS 05|AA. Java References#JLS 05]\] [§15.17.3 Remainder Operators|http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/third_edition/html/expressions.html#15.17.3]