DCL00-A. Const-qualify immutable objects

Immutable objects should be const-qualified. Enforcing object immutability using const-qualification helps ensures the correctness and security of applications. ISO/IEC PDTR 24772 [[ISO/IEC PDTR 24772]], for example, recommends labeling parameters as constant to avoid the unintentional modification of function arguments. [STR05-A. Prefer making string literals const-qualified] describes a specialized case of this recommendation.

Adding const qualification may propagate through a program; as you add const qualifiers, still more become necessary. This phenomenon is sometimes called "const-poisoning." Const-poisoning can frequently lead to violations of EXP05-A. Do not cast away a const qualification. While const qualification is a good idea, the costs may outweigh the value in the remediation of existing code.

Non-Compliant Code Example

In this non-compliant code example, pi is declared as a float. Although pi is a mathematical constant, its value is not protected from accidental modification.

float pi = 3.14159f;
float degrees;
float radians;
/* ... */
radians = degrees * pi / 180;

Compliant Solution

In this compliant solution, pi is declared as a const-qualified object.

const float pi = 3.14159f;
float degrees;
float radians;
/* ... */
radians = degrees * pi / 180;

Risk Assessment

Failing to const-qualify immutable objects can result in a constant being modified at runtime.

Related Vulnerabilities

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

References

[[ISO/IEC 9899-1999]] Section 6.3.2.1, "Lvalues, arrays, and function designators," Section 6.7.2.2, "Enumeration specifiers," and Section 6.10.3, "Macro replacement"
[[ISO/IEC PDTR 24772]] "CSJ Passing parameters and return values"
[[Saks 00]] Dan Saks. Numeric Literals. Embedded Systems Programming. September, 2000.

02. Declarations and Initialization (DCL)      02. Declarations and Initialization (DCL)       DCL01-A. Do not reuse variable names in subscopes