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Programs must not catch java.lang.NullPointerException. A NullPointerException exception thrown at runtime indicates the existence of an underlying null pointer dereference that must be fixed in the application code (see EXP01-J. Do not use a null in a case where an object is required for more information). Handling the underlying null pointer dereference by catching the NullPointerException rather than fixing the underlying problem is inappropriate for several reasons. First, catching NullPointerException adds significantly more performance overhead than simply adding the necessary null checks [Bloch 2008]. Second, when multiple expressions in a try block are capable of throwing a NullPointerException, it is difficult or impossible to determine which expression is responsible for the exception because the NullPointerException catch block handles any NullPointerException thrown from any location in the try block. Third, programs rarely remain in an expected and usable state after a NullPointerException has been thrown. Attempts to continue execution after first catching and logging (or worse, suppressing) the exception rarely succeed.

Likewise, programs must not catch RuntimeException, Exception, or Throwable. Few, if any, methods are capable of handling all possible runtime exceptions. When It is highly unlikely that a method is built to deal with all possible runtime exceptions. Consequently, no method should ever catch RuntimeException. If a method catches RuntimeException, it may receive exceptions it was not designed to handle, such as NullPointerExceptionunanticipated by the designer, including NullPointerException and ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException. Many catch clauses simply log or ignore the enclosed exceptional condition , and attempt to resume normal execution resumes; this practice often violates ERR00-J. Do not suppress or ignore checked exceptions. Runtime exceptions often indicate bugs in the program that should be fixed by the developer . They almost always lead to and often cause control flow vulnerabilities. Likewise, a method should never catch Exception or Throwable, because this implies catching RuntimeException (RuntimeException extends Exception which in turn extends Throwable).

Noncompliant Code Example (NullPointerException)

This noncompliant code example defines an isName() method that takes a String argument and returns true if it consists of a capital letter succeeded by lowercase letters. To handle corner cases, it merely wraps the code in a try-catch block and reports any exceptions that may arisethe given string is a valid name. A valid name is defined as two capitalized words separated by one or more spaces. Rather than checking to see whether the given string is null, the method catches NullPointerException and returns false.

boolean isCapitalizedisName(String s) {
  try {
    String ifnames[] = (s.equalssplit(" ");

    if (names.length != 2) {
      return truefalse;
    }
    return (isCapitalized(names[0]) && isCapitalized(names[1]));
  } catch (NullPointerException e) {
    return false;
  }
}

Compliant Solution

This compliant solution explicitly checks the String argument for null rather than catching NullPointerException:

boolean isName(String s) {
 first =if (s.substring( 0, 1) == null) {
    return false;
  }
  String restnames[] = s.substringsplit(" 1");
  if (names.length != 2) {
    return (first.equals (first.toUpperCase()) &&
	    rest.equals (rest.toLowerCase()));
  } catch (RuntimeException exception) {
    ExceptionReporter.report(exception) false;
  }
  return (isCapitalized(names[0]) && isCapitalized(names[1]));
}

Compliant Solution

This compliant solution omits an explicit check for a null reference and permits a NullPointerException to be thrown:

boolean isName(String s) /* Throws NullPointerException */ {
  String names[] = s.split(" ");
  if (names.length != 2) {
    return false;
  }
  return false (isCapitalized(names[0]) && isCapitalized(names[1]));
}

This code reports a null pointer exception condition if s is a null pointer. However, it also unintentionally catches other exceptions that are unlikely to be handled properly, such as an ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException resulting from an out of bounds index.

Compliant Solution

Omitting the null check means that the program fails more quickly than if the program had returned false and lets an invoking method discover the null value. A method that throws a NullPointerException without a null check must provide a precondition that the argument being passed to it is not null.

Noncompliant Code Example (Null Object Pattern)

This noncompliant code example is derived from the logging service Null Object design pattern described by Henney [Henney 2003]. The logging service is composed of two classes: one that prints the triggering activity's details to a disk file using the FileLog class and another that prints to the console using the ConsoleLog class. An interface, Log, defines a write() method that is implemented by the respective log classes. Method selection occurs polymorphically at runtime. The logging infrastructure is subsequently used by a Service classInstead of catching RuntimeException, the program should be as specific as possible in catching exceptions.

public interface Log {
  void write
boolean isCapitalized(String s) {
  try {
    if (s.equals("")) {
      return true;
    }
    String first = s.substring(0, 1);
    String rest = s.substring(1);
    return (first.equals (first.toUpperCase()) &&
	    rest.equals (rest.toLowerCase()));
  } catch (NullPointerException exception) {
    ExceptionReporter.report (exception);
  }
  return false;
}

This code only catches those exceptions that are intended to be caught. For example, a null pointer exception is caught whereas an index-out-of-bounds exception is not caught.

Noncompliant Code Example

messageToLog);
}

public class FileLog implements Log {
  private final FileWriter out;

  FileLog(String logFileName) throws IOException {
    out = new FileWriter(logFileName, true);
  }

  public void write(String messageToLog) {
    // Write message to file
  }
}

public class ConsoleLog implements Log {
  public void write(String messageToLog) {
    System.out.println(messageToLog); // Write message to console
  }
}

class Service {
  private Log log;

  Service() {
    this.log = null; // No logger
  }

  Service(Log log) {
    this.log = log; // Set the specified logger
  }

  public void handle() {
    try {
      log.write("Request received and handled");
    } catch (NullPointerException npe) {
      // Ignore
    }
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
    Service s = new Service(new FileLog("logfile.log"));
    s.handle();

    s = new Service(new ConsoleLog());
    s.handle();
  }
}

Each Service object must support the possibility that a Log object may be null because clients may choose not to perform logging. This noncompliant code example eliminates null checks by using a try-catch block that ignores NullPointerException.

This design choice suppresses genuine occurrences of NullPointerException in violation of ERR00-J. Do not suppress or ignore checked exceptions. It also violates the design principle that exceptions should be used only for exceptional conditions because ignoring a null Log object is part of the ordinary operation of a server.

Compliant Solution (Null Object Pattern)

The Null Object design pattern provides an alternative to the use of explicit null checks in code. It reduces the need for explicit null checks through the use of an explicit, safe null object rather than a null reference.

This compliant solution modifies the no-argument constructor of class Service to use the do-nothing behavior provided by an additional class, Log.NULL; it leaves the other classes unchanged.

public interface Log {

  public static final Log NULL = new Log() {
    public void write(String messageToLog) {
      // Do nothing
    }
  };

  void write(String messageToLog);
}

class Service {
  private final Log log;

  Service(){
    this.log = Log.NULL;
  }

  // ...
}

Declaring the log reference final ensures that its value is assigned during initialization.

An acceptable alternative implementation uses accessor methods to control all interaction with the reference to the current log. The accessor method to set a log ensures use of the null object in place of a null reference. The accessor method to get a log ensures that any retrieved instance is either an actual logger or a null object (but never a null reference). Instances of the null object are immutable and are inherently thread-safe.

Some system designs require returning a value from a method rather than implementing do-nothing behavior. One acceptable approach is use of an exceptional value object that throws an exception before the method returns [Cunningham 1995]. This approach can be a useful alternative to returning null.

In distributed environments, the null object must be passed by copy to ensure that remote systems avoid the overhead of a remote call argument evaluation on every access to the null object. Null object code for distributed environments must also implement the Serializable interface.

Code that uses this pattern must be clearly documented to ensure that security-critical messages are never discarded because the pattern has been misapplied.

Noncompliant Code Example (Division)

This noncompliant code example assumes that the original version of the division() method was declared to throw only ArithmeticException. However, the caller catches the more general Exception type to report arithmetic problems rather than catching the specific exception ArithmeticException type. This practice is risky because future changes to the method signature could add more exceptions to the list of potential exceptions the caller must handle. In this example, a revision of the division() method can throw IOException in addition to ArithmeticException. However, the compiler will not diagnose the lack of a corresponding handler because the invoking method already catches IOException as a result of catching Exception. Consequently, the recovery process might be inappropriate for This noncompliant code example handles a divide by zero exception initially. Instead of the specific exception type ArithmeticException, a more generic type Exception is caught. This is dangerous as any future exception declaration updates to the method signature (such as, addition of IOException) may no longer require the developer to provide a corresponding handler. Consequently, the recovery process may not be tailored to the specific exception type that is thrown. Furthermore, unchecked exceptions under RuntimeException are also unintentionally caught whenever the top level Exception class is caughtthe developer has failed to anticipate that catching Exception also catches unchecked exceptions.

public class DivideException {
  public static void division(int totalSum, int totalNumber)
    throws ArithmeticException, IOException  {
    int average  = totalSum / totalNumber;
    // Additional operations that may throw IOException...
    System.out.println("Average: " + average);
  }
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    try {
      division(200, 5);
      division(200, 0); // Divide by zero
    } catch (Exception e) {
      System.out.println("Divide by zero exception : " + e.getMessage()); }
  }

  public static void division(int totalSum, int totalNumber) throws ArithmeticException, IOException  {
    int average  = totalSum/totalNumber;
    // Additional operations that may throw+ IOException...e.getMessage());
    System.out.println("Average: " + average);}
  }
}

Noncompliant Code Example

This noncompliant code example improves attempts to solve the problem by catching a specific divide-by-zero exception but fails on the premise that it unscrupulously accepts other undesirable runtime exceptions, by catching Exceptionspecifically catching ArithmeticException. However, it continues to catch Exception and consequently catches both unanticipated checked exceptions and unanticipated runtime exceptions.

try {
  division(200, 5);
  division(200, 0); // Divide by zero        
} catch (ArithmeticException ae) { 
  throw new DivideByZeroException(); 
} catch (Exception e) { // DivideByZeroException extends Exception so is checked
  System.out.println("Exception occurred :" + e.getMessage());
}	

Note that DivideByZeroException is a custom exception type that extends Exception.

Compliant Solution

To be compliant, catch specific exception types especially when the types differ significantly. Here, ArithmeticException and IOException have been unbundled because they fall under very diverse categoriesThis compliant solution catches only the specific anticipated exceptions (ArithmeticException and IOException). All other exceptions are permitted to propagate up the call stack.

import java.io.IOException;

public class DivideException {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    try {
      division(200, 5);
      division(200, 0); // Divide by zero        
    } catch (ArithmeticException ae) { 
      throw new DivideByZeroException();  // DivideByZeroException extends Exception so is checked
 
     }throw catchnew DivideByZeroException(IOException ie); { 
    } catch System.out.println("I/O Exception occurred :" + ie.getMessage()); (IOException ex) {
      ExceptionReporter.report(ex);
    }	    
  }

  public static void division(int totalSum, int totalNumber)
                              throws ArithmeticException, IOException  {  
    int average  = totalSum / totalNumber; 
    // Additional operations that may throw IOException...
    System.out.println("Average: "+ average);   	
  }
}

DivideByZeroException is a custom exception type that extends Exception.

Exceptions

*EXC14-EX1*: A secure application must also abide by guideline [EXC06-J. Do not allow exceptions to transmit sensitive information]. To follow this guideline, an application might find it necessary to catch all exceptions at some top-level to sanitize (or suppress) them. This is also summarized in the CWE entries, [CWE 7|http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/7.html] and [CWE 388|http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/388.html]. If exceptions need to be caught, it is better to catch {{Throwable}} instead of {{Exception}} \[[Roubtsov 2003|AA. Bibliography#Roubtsov 03]\].

*EXC14-EX2*: Task processing threads such as worker threads in a thread pool or the swing event dispatch thread are allowed to catch {{RuntimeException}} when they call untrusted code through an abstraction such as {{Runnable}} \[[Goetz 2006 pg 161|AA. Bibliography#Goetz 06]\]. 

Risk Assessment

Catching RuntimeException traps several types of exceptions not intended to be caught. This prevents them from being handled properly.

Automated Detection

TODO

Related Vulnerabilities

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

Bibliography

\[[MITRE 2009|AA. Bibliography#MITRE 09]\] [CWE ID 396|http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/396.html] "Declaration of Catch for Generic Exception", [CWE ID 7|http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/7.html] "J2EE Misconfiguration: Missing Error Handling", [CWE ID 537|http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/537.html] "Information Leak Through Java Runtime Error Message", [CWE ID 536|http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/536.html] "Information Leak Through Servlet Runtime Error Message"
\[[Schweisguth 2003|AA. Bibliography#Schweisguth 03]\]
\[[JLS 2005|AA. Bibliography#JLS 05]\] [Chapter 11, Exceptions|http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/third_edition/html/exceptions.html]
\[[Tutorials 2008|AA. Bibliography#tutorials 08]\] [Exceptions|http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/essential/exceptions/index.html]
\[[Doshi 2003|AA. Bibliography#Doshi 03]\]
\[[Muller 2002|AA. Bibliography#Muller 02]\]

The ExceptionReporter class is documented in ERR00-J. Do not suppress or ignore checked exceptions.

Compliant Solution (Java SE 7)

Java SE 7 allows a single catch block to catch multiple exceptions of different types, which prevents redundant code. This compliant solution catches the specific anticipated exceptions (ArithmeticException and IOException) and handles them with one catch clause. All other exceptions are permitted to propagate to the next catch clause of a try statement on the stack.

import java.io.IOException;

public class DivideException {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    try {
      division(200, 5);
      division(200, 0); // Divide by zero
    } catch (ArithmeticException | IOException ex) {
      ExceptionReporter.report(ex);
    }
  }

  public static void division(int totalSum, int totalNumber)
                              throws ArithmeticException, IOException  {
    int average  = totalSum / totalNumber;
    // Additional operations that may throw IOException...
    System.out.println("Average: "+ average);
  }
}

Exceptions

ERR08-J-EX0: A catch block may catch all exceptions to process them before rethrowing them (filtering sensitive information from exceptions before the call stack leaves a trust boundary, for example). Refer to ERR01-J. Do not allow exceptions to expose sensitive information and weaknesses CWE 7 and CWE 388 for more information. In such cases, a catch block should catch Throwable rather than Exception or RuntimeException.

This code sample catches all exceptions and wraps them in a custom DoSomethingException before rethrowing them:

class DoSomethingException extends Exception {
  public DoSomethingException(Throwable cause) {
    super(cause);
  }

  // Other methods

};

private void doSomething() throws DoSomethingException {
  try {
    // Code that might throw an Exception
  } catch (Throwable t) {
    throw new DoSomethingException(t);
  }
}

Exception wrapping is a common technique to safely handle unknown exceptions. For another example, see ERR06-J. Do not throw undeclared checked exceptions.

ERR08-J-EX1: Task processing threads such as worker threads in a thread pool or the Swing event dispatch thread are permitted to catch RuntimeException when they call untrusted code through an abstraction such as the Runnable interface [Goetz 2006, p. 161].

ERR08-J-EX2: Systems that require substantial fault tolerance or graceful degradation are permitted to catch and log general exceptions such as Throwable at appropriate levels of abstraction. For example:

• A real-time control system that catches and logs all exceptions at the outermost layer, followed by warm-starting the system so that real-time control can continue. Such approaches are clearly justified when program termination would have safety-critical or mission-critical consequences.
• A system that catches all exceptions that propagate out of each major subsystem, logs the exceptions for later debugging, and subsequently shuts down the failing subsystem (perhaps replacing it with a much simpler, limited-functionality version) while continuing other services.

Risk Assessment

Catching NullPointerException may mask an underlying null dereference, degrade application performance, and result in code that is hard to understand and maintain. Likewise, catching RuntimeException, Exception, or Throwable may unintentionally trap other exception types and prevent them from being handled properly.

Automated Detection

...

Image Added Image Added Image AddedEXC13-J. Throw specific exceptions as opposed to the more general RuntimeException or Exception      17. Exceptional Behavior (EXC)      EXC15-J. Do not catch NullPointerException