Objects in general should — and security-critical objects must — be maintained in a consistent state even when exceptional conditions arise. Common techniques for maintaining object consistency include
- Input validation (method parameters, for example, method parameters)
- Reordering logic so that code that can result in the exceptional condition executes before the object is modified
- Using rollbacks in the event of failure
- Performing required operations on a temporary copy of the object and committing changes to the original object only after their successful completion
- Avoiding the need to modify the object at all
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This noncompliant code example shows a Dimensions class that contains three internal attributes, the length, width, and height of a rectangular box. The getVolumePackage() method is designed to return the total volume required to hold the box, after accounting for packaging material which further adds 2 units to the dimensions of each side. Non-positive values of the dimensions of the box (exclusive of packaging material) are rejected during input validation. No dimension cannot can be larger than 10. Also, the weight of the object is passed in as an argument and cannot be more than 20 units.
Consider the case where the weight is more than 20 units (21 units in this case). This causes an IllegalArgumentException, which is intercepted by the custom error reporter. While the logic restores the object's original state in the absence of this exception, the rollback code fails to execute in the event of an exception. Consequently, subsequent invocations of getVolumePackage() produce incorrect results.
| Code Block | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
class Dimensions {
private int length;
private int width;
private int height;
static public final int PADDING = 2;
static public final int MAX_DIMENSION = 10;
public Dimensions(int length, int width, int height) {
this.length = length;
this.width = width;
this.height = height;
}
protected int getVolumePackage(int weight) {
length += PADDING;
width += PADDING;
height += PADDING;
try {
if (length <= PADDING || width <= PADDING || height <= PADDING ||
length > MAX_DIMENSION + PADDING || width > MAX_DIMENSION + PADDING ||
height > MAX_DIMENSION + PADDING || weight <= 0 || weight > 20) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException();
}
int volume = length * width * height; // 12 * 12 * 12 = 1728
length -= PADDING; width -= PADDING; height -= PADDING; // Revert back
return volume;
} catch (Throwable t) {
MyExceptionReporter mer = new MyExceptionReporter();
mer.report(t); // Sanitize
return -1; // Non-positive error code
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Dimensions d = new Dimensions(10, 10, 10);
System.out.println(d.getVolumePackage(21)); // Prints -1 (error)
System.out.println(d.getVolumePackage(19)); // Prints 2744 instead of 1728
}
}
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The catch clause is permitted by exception EXC14-EX0 of rule ERR14-J. Do not catch NullPointerException or any of its ancestors as because it serves as a general filter passing exceptions to the MyExceptionReporter class, which is dedicated to safely reporting exceptions , as recommended by rule ERR00-J. Do not suppress or ignore checked exceptions. While this code only throws IllegalArgumentException, the catch clause is general enough to handle any exception , in case the try block should be modified to throw other exceptions.
...
| Code Block | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
// ...
} catch (Throwable t) {
MyExceptionReporter mer = new MyExceptionReporter();
mer.report(t); // Sanitize
length -= PADDING; width -= PADDING; height -= PADDING; // Revert back
return -1;
}
|
Compliant Solution (finally Clause)
...
| Code Block | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
protected int getVolumePackage(int weight) {
length += PADDING;
width += PADDING;
height += PADDING;
try {
if (length <= PADDING || width <= PADDING || height <= PADDING ||
length > MAX_DIMENSION + PADDING || width > MAX_DIMENSION + PADDING ||
height > MAX_DIMENSION + PADDING || weight <= 0 || weight > 20) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException();
}
int volume = length * width * height; // 12 * 12 * 12 = 1728
return volume;
} catch (Throwable t) {
MyExceptionReporter mer = new MyExceptionReporter();
mer.report(t); // Sanitize
return -1; // Non-positive error code
} finally {
length -= PADDING; width -= PADDING; height -= PADDING; // Revert back
}
}
|
...
| Code Block | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
protected int getVolumePackage(int weight) {
try {
if (length <= 0 || width <= 0 || height <= 0 ||
length > MAX_DIMENSION || width > MAX_DIMENSION || height > MAX_DIMENSION ||
weight <= 0 || weight > 20) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException(); // Validate first
}
} catch (Throwable t) { MyExceptionReporter mer = new MyExceptionReporter();
mer.report(t); // Sanitize
return -1;
}
length += PADDING;
width += PADDING;
height += PADDING;
int volume = length * width * height;
length -= PADDING; width -= PADDING; height -= PADDING;
return volume;
}
|
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This compliant solution avoids the need to modify the object. The object's state cannot be made inconsistent, and rollback is consequently unnecessary. This approach is preferred to solutions which modify the object but may be infeasible for complex code.
| Code Block | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
protected int getVolumePackage(int weight) {
try {
if (length <= 0 || width <= 0 || height <= 0 ||
length > MAX_DIMENSION || width > MAX_DIMENSION || height > MAX_DIMENSION ||
weight <= 0 || weight > 20) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException(); // Validate first
}
} catch (Throwable t) { MyExceptionReporter mer = new MyExceptionReporter();
mer.report(t); // Sanitize
return -1;
}
int volume = (length + PADDING) * (width + PADDING) * (height + PADDING);
return volume;
}
|
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<ac:structured-macro ac:name="unmigrated-wiki-markup" ac:schema-version="1" ac:macro-id="b173ff69f1697e04-c6e8f9ba-4e394d21-9a20b59f-b27a36cb9e01bf1b1bb3dbf5"><ac:plain-text-body><![CDATA[ | [[Bloch 2008 | AA. Bibliography#Bloch 08]] | Item 64: Strive for failure atomicity | ]]></ac:plain-text-body></ac:structured-macro> |
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