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int privileges;

if (invalid_login()) {
  if (allow_guests()) {
    privileges = GUEST;
  } 
} else {
  privileges = ADMINISTRATOR;
}

Noncompliant Code Example (empty block)

This noncompliant code example has a while statement with no block:

while (invalid_login());

Note that if invalid_login() has no side effects (such as warning the user if their login failed), this code also violates MSC12-C. Detect and remove code that has no effect or is never executed.

Compliant Solution (empty block)

This compliant solution features an explicit empty block, which clarifies the developer's intent:

while (invalid_login()) {}

Risk Assessment

Automated Detection

Related Vulnerabilities

CVE-2014-1266 was due, in large part, to failing to follow this recommendation. There is a spurious "goto fail" statement on line 631 of sslKeyExchange.c. This "goto" gets executed unconditionally, even though it is indented as if it were part of the preceding "if" statement.  As a result, the call to sslRawVerify (which performs the actual signature verification) is rendered dead code.  [ImperialViolet 2014]. If the body of the "if" statement had been enclosed in braces, then this defect likely would not have happened.

Related Guidelines

 Bibliography

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