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Many functions require the allocation of multiple objectsresources. Failing and returning somewhere in the middle of this function without freeing all of the allocated memory resources could produce a memory leak. It is a common error to forget to free one (or all) of the objects resources in this manner, so a goto- chain is the simplest and cleanest way to organize exits when order is preservedwhile preserving the order of freed resources.

Noncompliant Code Example (POSIX)

In this noncompliant example, exit code is written for every instance in which the function can terminate prematurely. Notice how failing to allocate obj3 close fin2 produces a memory leak.resource leak, leaving an open file descriptor.

Please note that these examples assume errno_t and NOERR to be defined, as recommended in DCL09-C. Declare functions that return errno with a return type of errno_t. An equivalent compatible example would define errno_t as an int and NOERR as zero.

These examples also assume that errno is set if fopen() or malloc() fail. These are guaranteed by POSIX but not by C11. See ERR30-C. Take care when reading errno for more details.

typedef struct object {  /* Generic struct: contents don't matter */
  int propertyA, propertyB, propertyC;
} object_t;

errno_t do_something(void){
  FILE *fin1, *fin2;
  // ... definitions ...
object_t *obj;
  errno_t ret_val;
  
  obj1fin1 = allocate_object(fopen("some_file", "r");
  if (obj1fin1 == NULL) {
    return -1errno;
  }

  obj2fin2 = allocate_object(fopen("some_other_file", "r");
  if (obj2fin2 == NULL) {
    freefclose(obj1fin1);
    return -1errno;
  }

  obj3obj = allocate_object(malloc(sizeof(object_t));
  if (obj3obj == NULL) {
    free(obj2ret_val = errno;
    fclose(fin1);
    return -1ret_val;  //* Forgot to freeclose obj1 -- Memory leakfin2!! */
  }

  //* ... moreMore code ... */

  fclose(fin1);
  fclose(fin2);
  free(obj);
  return NOERR;
}

This is also just a small example; in much larger examples, errors like this would be are even harder to detect.

Compliant Solution (POSIX, Nested Ifs)

This compliant solution uses nested if statements to properly close files and free memory in the case that any error occurs. When the number of resources to manage is small (3 in this example), nested if statements will be simpler than a goto chain.

/* ... Assume the same struct used previously ... */

errno_t do_something(void) {
  FILE *fin1, *fin2;
  object_t *obj;
  errno_t ret_val = NOERR; /* Initially assume a successful return value */

  if ((fin1 = fopen("some_file", "r")) != NULL) {
    if ((fin2 = fopen("some_other_file", "r")) != NULL) {
      if ((obj = malloc(sizeof(object_t))) != NULL) {

        /* ... More code ... */

        /* Clean-up & handle errors */
        free(obj);
      } else {
        ret_val = errno;
      }
      fclose(fin2);
    } else {
      ret_val = errno;
    }
    fclose(fin1);
  } else {
    ret_val = errno;
  }

  return ret_val;
}

Compliant Solution (POSIX, Goto Chain)

Occasionally, the number of resources to manage in one function will be too large to permit using nested ifs to manage them.

In this revised version, we have used a goto-chain in replacement of a goto chain replaces each individual return segment. If there is no error occurs, control flow will fall falls through to the SUCCESS label and return 0. In the case of an error, control flow will jump the SUCCESS label, releases all of the resources, and returns NOERR. If an error occurs, the return value is set to errno, control flow jumps to the proper failure label, and the appropriate memory will be freed resources are released before returning an error.

/* ... Assume the same struct used previously ... */

errno_tint do_something(void) {
  FILE *fin1, *fin2;
  // ... definitions ...object_t *obj;
  errno_t ret_val = NOERR; /* Initially assume a successful return value */

  obj1fin1 = allocate_object(fopen("some_file", "r");
  if (obj1fin1 == NULL) {
    ret_val = errno;
    goto FAIL_OBJ1FIN1;
  }

  obj2fin2 = allocate_object(fopen("some_other_file", "r");
  if (obj2fin2 == NULL) {
    ret_val = errno;
    goto FAIL_OBJ2FIN2;
  }

  obj3obj = allocate_object(malloc(sizeof(object_t));
  if (obj3obj == NULL) {
    ret_val = errno;
    goto FAIL_OBJ3OBJ;
  }


  //* ... moreMore code ... */


SUCCESS:     // Return normally* Clean up everything */
  return 0free(obj);

FAIL_OBJ3OBJ:   //* Otherwise, free objects in orderclose only the resources we opened */
  freefclose(obj2fin2);

FAIL_OBJ2FIN2:
  freefclose(obj1fin1);

FAIL_OBJ1FIN1:
  return -1ret_val;
}

The benefits of this method are that This method is beneficial because the code is cleaner and we prevent the rewriting of , and the programmer does not need to rewrite similar code upon every function error.

References

\[[ISO/IEC 9899:1999|AA. C References#ISO/IEC 9899-1999]\] Section 7.20.3, "Memory management functions"
\[[Seacord 05|AA. C References#Seacord 05]\] Chapter 4, "Dynamic Memory Management"

Related Vulnerabilities

Note that this guideline does not advocate more general uses of goto, which is still considered harmful. The use of goto in these cases is specifically to transfer control within a single function body.

Compliant Solution (copy_process() from Linux kernel)

Some effective examples of goto chains are quite large. This compliant solution is an excerpt from the Linux kernel. This is the copy_process function from kernel/fork.c from version 2.6.29 of the kernel.

The function uses 17 goto labels (not all displayed here) to perform cleanup code should any internal function yield an error code. If no errors occur, the program returns a pointer to the new process p. If any error occurs, the program diverts control to a particular goto label, which performs cleanup for sections of the function that have currently been successfully executed but not for sections that have not yet been executed. Consequently, only resources that were successfully opened are actually closed.

All comments in this excerpt were added to indicate additional code in the kernel not displayed here.

static struct task_struct *copy_process(unsigned long clone_flags,
					unsigned long stack_start,
					struct pt_regs *regs,
					unsigned long stack_size,
					int __user *child_tidptr,
					struct pid *pid,
					int trace)
{
  int retval;
  struct task_struct *p;
  int cgroup_callbacks_done = 0;

  if ((clone_flags & (CLONE_NEWNS|CLONE_FS)) == (CLONE_NEWNS|CLONE_FS))
    return ERR_PTR(-EINVAL);

  /* ... */

  retval = security_task_create(clone_flags);
  if (retval)
    goto fork_out;

  retval = -ENOMEM;
  p = dup_task_struct(current);
  if (!p)
    goto fork_out;

  /* ... */

  /* Copy all the process information */
  if ((retval = copy_semundo(clone_flags, p)))
    goto bad_fork_cleanup_audit;
  if ((retval = copy_files(clone_flags, p)))
    goto bad_fork_cleanup_semundo;
  if ((retval = copy_fs(clone_flags, p)))
    goto bad_fork_cleanup_files;
  if ((retval = copy_sighand(clone_flags, p)))
    goto bad_fork_cleanup_fs;
  if ((retval = copy_signal(clone_flags, p)))
    goto bad_fork_cleanup_sighand;
  if ((retval = copy_mm(clone_flags, p)))
    goto bad_fork_cleanup_signal;
  if ((retval = copy_namespaces(clone_flags, p)))
    goto bad_fork_cleanup_mm;
  if ((retval = copy_io(clone_flags, p)))
    goto bad_fork_cleanup_namespaces;
  retval = copy_thread(0, clone_flags, stack_start, stack_size, p, regs);
  if (retval)
    goto bad_fork_cleanup_io;

  /* ... */

  return p;

  /* ... Cleanup code starts here ... */

bad_fork_cleanup_io:
  put_io_context(p->io_context);
bad_fork_cleanup_namespaces:
  exit_task_namespaces(p);
bad_fork_cleanup_mm:
  if (p->mm)
    mmput(p->mm);
bad_fork_cleanup_signal:
  cleanup_signal(p);
bad_fork_cleanup_sighand:
  __cleanup_sighand(p->sighand);
bad_fork_cleanup_fs:
  exit_fs(p); /* Blocking */
bad_fork_cleanup_files:
  exit_files(p); /* Blocking */
bad_fork_cleanup_semundo:
  exit_sem(p);
bad_fork_cleanup_audit:
  audit_free(p);

  /* ... More cleanup code ... */

fork_out:
  return ERR_PTR(retval);
}

Risk Assessment

Failure to free allocated memory or close opened files results in a memory leak and possibly unexpected results.

Automated Detection

Bibliography

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Image Added Image Added Image AddedNote that this method does not only prevent leakage from memory allocation; the same logic could be used to ensure the closure of files and pipes, for example. Similarly, in C++, this would also apply more generally to constructors and destructors.