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Every object has a storage duration that determines its lifetime: static, thread, automatic, or dynamic.lifetime in which it can be used in a well-defined manner. The lifetime of an object begins when sufficient, properly aligned storage has been obtained for it and its initialization is complete. The lifetime of an object ends when a nontrivial destructor, if any, is called for the object and the storage for the object has been reused or released. Use of an object, or a pointer to an object, outside of its lifetime frequently results in undefined behavior.

The C++ Standard, [basic.life], paragraph 5 [ISO/IEC 14882-2003] Section 3.8, "Object Lifetime" describes a number of situations in which trying to access an object outside of its lifetime leads to undefined behavior.

Attempting to access an object outside of its lifetime can result in an exploitable vulnerability.

Noncompliant Code Example (Differing Storage Durations)

2014], describes the lifetime rules for pointers:

Before the lifetime of an object has started but after the storage which the object will occupy has been allocated or, after the lifetime of an object has ended and before the storage which the object occupied is reused or released, any pointer that refers to the storage location where the object will be or was located may be used but only in limited ways. For an object under construction or destruction, see 12.7. Otherwise, such a pointer refers to allocated storage, and using the pointer as if the pointer were of type void*, is well-defined. Indirection through such a pointer is permitted but the resulting lvalue may only be used in limited ways, as described below. The program has undefined behavior if:
    — the object will be or was of a class type with a non-trivial destructor and the pointer is used as the operand of a delete-expression,
    — the pointer is used to access a non-static data member or call a non-static member function of the object, or
    — the pointer is implicitly converted to a pointer to a virtual base class, or
    — the pointer is used as the operand of a static_cast, except when the conversion is to pointer to cv void, or to pointer to cv void and subsequently to pointer to either cv char or cv unsigned char, or
    — the pointer is used as the operand of a dynamic_cast.

Paragraph 6 describes the lifetime rules for non-pointers:

Similarly, before the lifetime of an object has started but after the storage which the object will occupy has been allocated or, after the lifetime of an object has ended and before the storage which the object occupied is reused or released, any glvalue that refers to the original object may be used but only in limited ways. For an object under construction or destruction, see 12.7. Otherwise, such a glvalue refers to allocated storage, and using the properties of the glvalue that do not depend on its value is well-defined. The program has undefined behavior if:
    — an lvalue-to-rvalue conversion is applied to such a glvalue,
    — the glvalue is used to access a non-static data member or call a non-static member function of the object, or
    — the glvalue is bound to a reference to a virtual base class, or
    — the glvalue is used as the operand of a dynamic_cast or as the operand of typeid.

Do not use an object outside of its lifetime, except in the ways described above as being well-defined.

Noncompliant Code Example

In this noncompliant code example, a pointer to an object is used to call a non-static member function of the object prior to the beginning of the pointer's lifetime, resulting in undefined behaviorIn this noncompliant code example, the address of the variable c_str with automatic storage duration is assigned to the variable p, which has static storage duration. The assignment itself is valid, but it is invalid for c_str to go out of scope while p holds its address, as happens at the end of dont_do_this().

#include <stdio.h>struct S {
 
const char *p;void mem_fn();
};
 
void dont_do_thisf(void) {
  const char c_str[] = "This will change"S *s;
  p = c_str; /* Dangerous */
}

void innocuous(void)s->mem_fn();
}

Compliant Solution

In this compliant solution, storage is obtained for the pointer prior to calling S::mem_fn().

struct S {
  printf("%s\n", pvoid mem_fn();
};
 
intvoid mainf(void) {
  S *s  dont_do_this()= new S;
  innocuouss->mem_fn();
  returndelete 0s;
}

Compliant Solution (Same Storage Durations)

An improved compliant solution would not dynamically allocate memory directly but would instead use an automatic local variable to obtain the storage and perform initialization. If a pointer were required, use of a smart pointer, such as std::unique_ptr, would be a marked improvement. However, these suggested compliant solutions would distract from the lifetime demonstration of this compliant solution and consequently are not shown.

Noncompliant Code Example

In this noncompliant code example, a pointer to an object is implicitly converted to a virtual base class after the object's lifetime has ended, resulting in undefined behavior.In this compliant solution, p is declared with the same storage duration as c_str, preventing p from taking on an indeterminate value outside of this_is_OK():

void this_is_OK(void) {
  const char c_str[] = "Everything OK";
  const char *p = c_str;
  /* ... */
}
/* p is inaccessible outside the scope of string c_str */

Compliant Solution (Differing Storage Durations)

struct B {};
 
struct D1 : virtual B {};
struct D2 : virtual B {};
 
struct S : D1, D2 {};
 
void f(const B *b) {}
 
void g() {
  S *s = new S;
  // Use s
  delete s;
 
  f(s);
}

Despite the fact that f() never makes use of the object, its being passed as an argument to f() is sufficient to trigger undefined behavior.

Compliant Solution

In this compliant solution, the lifetime of s is extended to cover the call to f()If it is necessary for p to be defined with static storage duration but c_str with a more limited duration, then p can be set to NULL before c_str is destroyed. This practice prevents p from taking on an indeterminate value, although any references to p must check for NULL.

const char *p;
void is_this_OK(void) {
  const char c_str[] = "Everything OK?";
  p = c_strstruct B {};
 
struct D1 : virtual B {};
struct D2 : virtual B {};
 
struct S : D1, D2 {};
 
void f(const B *b) {}
 
void g() {
  S *s = new S;
  /*/ ... */Use s
  p = NULLf(s);
 
  delete s;
}

Noncompliant Code Example

...

In this noncompliant code sampleexample, the function init_array() returns a pointer to a character array with automatic storage duration, which is accessible to the caller:address of a local variable is returned from f(). When the resulting pointer is passed to h(), the lvalue-to-rvalue conversion applied to i results in undefined behavior.

Code Block
bgColor #FFCCCC lang cpp
charint *init_arrayg(void) { int i = 12; char array[10]; /* Initialize array */ return array; } return &i; }   void h(int *i);   void f() { int *i = g(); h(i); }

Some compilers generate a diagnostic message when a pointer to an object with automatic storage duration is returned from a function, as in this example. Programmers should compile code at high warning levels and resolve any diagnostic messages (see MSC00-CPP. Compile cleanly at high warning levels).

Compliant Solution

...

The solution, in this case, depends on the intent of the programmer. If the intent is to modify the value of array and have that modification persist outside the scope of init_array(), the desired behavior can be achieved by declaring array elsewhere and passing it as an argument to init_array():

#include <stddef.h>
void init_array(char *array, size_t len) {
  /* Initialize array */
  return;
}

int main(void) {
  char array[10];
  init_array(array, sizeof(array) / sizeof(array[0]));
  /* ... */
  return 0;
}

Noncompliant Code Example (Output Parameter)

In this compliant solution, the local variable returned from g() has static storage duration instead of automatic storage duration, extending its lifetime sufficiently for use within f().

Code Block
bgColor #ccccff lang cpp
int *g() { static int i = 12; return &i; } void h(int *i); void f() { int *i = g(); h(i); }

Noncompliant Code Example

A std::initializer_list<> object is constructed from an initializer list as though the implementation allocated a temporary array and passed it to the std::initializer_list<> constructor. This temporary array has the same lifetime as other temporary objects except that initializing a std::initializer_list<> object from the array extends the lifetime of the array exactly like binding a reference to a temporary [ISO/IEC 14882-2014].

In this noncompliant code example, a member variable of type std::initializer_list<int> is list-initialized within the constructor's ctor-initializer. Under these circumstances, the conceptual temporary array's lifetime ends once the constructor exits, so accessing any elements of the std::initializer_list<int> member variable results in undefined behavior.

#include <initializer_list>
#include <iostream>

class C {
  std::initializer_list<int> l;
  
public:
  C() : l{1, 2, 3} {}
  
  int first() const { return *l.begin(); }
};

void f() {
  C c;
  std::cout << c.first();
}

Compliant Solution

In this compliant solution, the std::initializer_list<int> member variable is replaced with a std::vector<int>, which copies the elements of the initializer list to the container instead of relying on a dangling reference to the temporary array.

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
 
class C {
  std::vector<int> l;
  
public:
  C() : l{1, 2, 3} {}
  
  int first() const { return *l.begin(); }
};
 
void f() {
  C c;
  std::cout << c.first();
}

Noncompliant Code Example

In this noncompliant code example, a lambda object is stored in a function object, which is later called (executing the lambda) to obtain a constant reference to a value. The lambda object returns an int value, which is then stored in a temporary int object that becomes bound to the const int & return type specified by the function object. However, the temporary object's lifetime is not extended past the return from the function object's invocation, which causes undefined behavior when the resulting value is accessed.

#include <functional>
 
void f() {
  auto l = [](const int &j) { return j; };
  std::function<const int&(const int &)> fn(l);
 
  int i = 42;
  int j = fn(i);
}

Compliant Solution

In this compliant solution, the std::function object returns an int instead of a const int &, ensuring that the value is copied instead of bound to a temporary reference. An alternative solution would be to call the lambda directly instead of through the std::function<> object.

#include <functional>
 
void f() {
  auto l = [](const int &j) { return j; };
  std::function<int(const int &)> fn(l);
 
  int i = 42;
  int j = fn(i);
}

Noncompliant Code Example

In this noncompliant code example, the constructor for the automatic variable s is not called because execution does not flow through the declaration of the local variable due to the goto statement. Because the constructor is not called, the lifetime for s has not begun. Therefore, calling S::f() uses the object outside of its lifetime and results in undefined behaviorIn this noncompliant code example, the function squirrel_away() stores a pointer to local variable local into a location pointed to by function parameter ptr_param. Upon the return of squirrel_away(), the pointer ptr_param points to a variable that has an expired lifetime.

void squirrel_away(char **ptr_param) {
  char local[10];
  /* Initialize array */
  *ptr_param = local;
}

void rodent(void) {
  char *ptr;
  squirrel_away(&ptr);
  /* ptr is live but invalid here */
}

Compliant Solution (Output Parameter)

In this compliant solution, the variable local has static storage duration; consequently, ptr can be used to reference the local array within the rodent() function:

char local[10];
 
void squirrel_away(char **ptr_param) {
  /* Initialize array */
  *ptr_param = local;
}

void rodent(void) {
  char *ptr;
  squirrel_away(&ptr);
  /* ptr is valid in this scope */
}

class S { 
  int v; 
 
public: 
  S() : v(12) {} // Non-trivial constructor 
 
  void f(); 
};   
 
void f() { 
 
  // ...   
 
  goto bad_idea;   
 
  // ... 
 
  S s; // Control passes over the declaration, so initialization does not take place.   
 
  bad_idea: 
    s.f(); 
}

Compliant Solution

This compliant solution ensures that s is properly initialized prior to performing the local jump.

class S { 
  int v; 
 
public: 
  S() : v(12) {} // Non-trivial constructor 
  
  void f(); 
};   
 
void f() { 
  S s; 
 
  // ... 
 
  goto bad_idea; 
 
  // ... 
 
  bad_idea: 
    s.f(); 
}

Noncompliant Code Example

In this noncompliant code example, f() is called with an iterable range of objects of type S. These objects are copied into a temporary buffer using std::copy(), and when processing of those objects is complete, the temporary buffer is deallocated. However, the buffer returned by std::get_temporary_buffer() does not contain initialized objects of type S, so when std::copy() dereferences the destination iterator, it results in undefined behavior because the object referenced by the destination iterator has yet to start its lifetime. This is because while space for the object has been allocated, no constructors or initializers have been invoked.

#include <algorithm>
#include <cstddef>
#include <memory>
#include <type_traits>
 
class S {
  int i;

public:
  S() : i(0) {}
  S(int i) : i(i) {}
  S(const S&) = default;
  S& operator=(const S&) = default;
};

template <typename Iter>
void f(Iter i, Iter e) {
  static_assert(std::is_same<typename std::iterator_traits<Iter>::value_type, S>::value,
                "Expecting iterators over type S");
  ptrdiff_t count = std::distance(i, e);
  if (!count) {
    return;
  }
  
  // Get some temporary memory.
  auto p = std::get_temporary_buffer<S>(count);
  if (p.second < count) {
    // Handle error; memory wasn't allocated, or insufficient memory was allocated.
    return;
  }
  S *vals = p.first; 
  
  // Copy the values into the memory.
  std::copy(i, e, vals);
  
  // ...
  
  // Return the temporary memory.
  std::return_temporary_buffer(vals);
}

Implementation Details

A reasonable implementation of std::get_temporary_buffer() and std::copy() can result in code that behaves like the following example (with error-checking elided).

unsigned char *buffer = new (std::nothrow) unsigned char[sizeof(S) * object_count];
S *result = reinterpret_cast<S *>(buffer);
while (i != e) {
  *result = *i; // Undefined behavior
  ++result;
  ++i;
}

The act of dereferencing result is undefined behavior because the memory pointed to is not an object of type S within its lifetime.

Compliant Solution (std::uninitialized_copy())

In this compliant solution, std::uninitialized_copy() is used to perform the copy, instead of std::copy(), ensuring that the objects are initialized using placement new instead of dereferencing uninitialized memory. Identical code from the noncompliant code example has been elided for brevity.

//...
  // Copy the values into the memory.
  std::uninitialized_copy(i, e, vals);
// ...

Compliant Solution (std::raw_storage_iterator)

This compliant solution uses std::copy() with a std::raw_storage_iterator as the destination iterator with the same well-defined results as using std::uninitialized_copy(). As with the previous compliant solution, identical code from the noncompliant code example has been elided for brevity.

//...
  // Copy the values into the memory.
  std::copy(i, e, std::raw_storage_iterator<S*, S>(vals));
// ...

Risk

...

Assessment

Referencing an object outside of its lifetime can result in an attacker being able to run arbitrary code.

Automated Detection

Related Vulnerabilities

Search for vulnerabilities resulting from the violation of this rule on the CERT website.

Related Guidelines

Bibliography

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Image Added Image Added Image AddedDCL19-CPP. Initialize automatic local variables on declaration      02. Declarations and Initialization (DCL)      DCL31-CPP. Do not define variadic functions