PRE04-C. Do not reuse a standard header file name

If a file with the same name as a standard header is placed in the search path for included source files, the behavior is undefined.

The following table lists these standard headers:

Do not reuse standard header file names, system-specific header file names, or other header file names.

Noncompliant Code Example

In this noncompliant code example, the programmer chooses to use a local version of the standard library but does not make the change clear.

#include "stdio.h"  /* confusing, distinct from <stdio.h> */

/* ... */

Compliant Solution

The solution addresses the problem by giving the local library a unique name (as per PRE08-C. Guarantee that header file names are unique), which makes it apparent that the library used is not the original.

/* Using a local version of stdio.h */ 
#include "mystdio.h"

/* ... */

Risk Assessment

Using header file names that conflict with other header file names can result in an incorrect file being included.

Automated Detection

The LDRA tool suite V 7.6.0 can detect violations of this recommendation.

Related Vulnerabilities

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

Other Languages

This rule appears in the C++ Secure Coding Standard as PRE04-CPP. Do not reuse a standard header file name.

References

[[ISO/IEC 9899:1999]] Section 7.1.2, "Standard Headers"

PRE03-C. Prefer typedefs to defines for encoding types      01. Preprocessor (PRE)