Threads and tasks that block on operations involving network or file input or output (IO) must provide callers with an explicit termination mechanism to prevent denial of service vulnerabilities.
Noncompliant Code Example (blocking IO, volatile flag)
This noncompliant code example uses a volatile done flag to indicate that it is safe to shut down the thread, as suggested in [CON13-J. Do not use Thread.stop() to terminate threads]. However, setting the flag does not terminate the thread if it is blocked on network IO as a consequence of invoking the readLine() method.
public final class SocketReader implements Runnable { // Thread-safe class
private final Socket socket;
private final BufferedReader in;
private volatile boolean done = false;
private final Object lock = new Object();
public SocketReader(String host, int port) throws IOException {
this.socket = new Socket(host, port);
this.in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(this.socket.getInputStream()));
}
// Only one thread can use the socket at a particular time
@Override public void run() {
try {
synchronized (lock) {
readData();
}
} catch (IOException ie) {
// Forward to handler
}
}
public void readData() throws IOException {
String string;
while (!done && (string = in.readLine()) != null) {
// Blocks until end of stream (null)
}
}
public void shutdown() {
done = true;
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
SocketReader reader = new SocketReader("somehost", 25);
Thread thread = new Thread(reader);
thread.start();
Thread.sleep(1000);
reader.shutdown(); // Shutdown the thread
}
}
Noncompliant Code Example (blocking IO, interruptible)
This noncompliant code example is similar to the preceding one, but uses thread interruption to shut down the thread. Network IO is not responsive to thread interruption when a java.net.Socket is being used. The readData() and main() methods are modified as follows:
public final class SocketReader implements Runnable { // Thread-safe class
// ...
public void readData() throws IOException {
String string;
while (!Thread.interrupted() && (string = in.readLine()) != null) {
// Blocks until end of stream (null)
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
SocketReader reader = new SocketReader("somehost", 25);
Thread thread = new Thread(reader);
thread.start();
Thread.sleep(1000);
thread.interrupt(); // Interrupt the thread
}
}
Compliant Solution (close socket connection)
This compliant solution resumes the thread by having the shutdown() method close the socket. The readLine() method throws a SocketException when the socket is closed which lets the thread proceed. Note that there is no way to keep the connection alive if the thread is to be cleanly halted immediately.
public final class SocketReader implements Runnable {
// ...
public void readData() throws IOException {
String string;
try {
while ((string = in.readLine()) != null) {
// Blocks until end of stream (null)
}
} finally {
shutdown();
}
}
public void shutdown() throws IOException {
socket.close();
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
SocketReader reader = new SocketReader("somehost", 25);
Thread thread = new Thread(reader);
thread.start();
Thread.sleep(1000);
reader.shutdown();
}
}
After shutdown() is called from main(), the finally block in readData() executes and calls shutdown() again, closing the socket for a second time. However, this second call has no effect if the socket has already been closed.
When performing asynchronous IO, a java.nio.channels.Selector may also be brought out of the blocked state by either invoking its close() or wakeup() method.
A boolean flag can be used if additional operations need to be performed after emerging from the blocked state. When supplementing the code with such a flag, the shutdown() method should also set the flag to false so that the thread can cleanly exit from the while loop.
Compliant Solution (interruptible channel)
This compliant solution uses an interruptible channel, java.nio.channels.SocketChannel, instead of a Socket connection. If the thread performing the network IO is interrupted using the Thread.interrupt() method while it is reading the data, the thread receives a ClosedByInterruptException and the channel is closed immediately. The thread's interrupted status is also set.
public final class SocketReader implements Runnable {
private final SocketChannel sc;
private final Object lock = new Object();
public SocketReader(String host, int port) throws IOException {
sc = SocketChannel.open(new InetSocketAddress(host, port));
}
@Override public void run() {
ByteBuffer buf = ByteBuffer.allocate(1024);
try {
synchronized (lock) {
while (!Thread.interrupted()) {
sc.read(buf);
// ...
}
}
} catch (IOException ie) {
// Forward to handler
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
SocketReader reader = new SocketReader("somehost", 25);
Thread thread = new Thread(reader);
thread.start();
Thread.sleep(1000);
thread.interrupt();
}
}
This technique interrupts the current thread, however, it only stops the thread because the code polls the thread's interrupted status with the Thread.interrupted() method, and shuts down the thread when it is interrupted. Using a SocketChannel ensures that the condition in the while loop is tested as soon as an interruption is received, despite the read being a blocking operation. Similarly, invoking the interrupt() method of a thread that is blocked because of java.nio.channels.Selector also causes that thread to awaken.
Noncompliant Code Example (database connection)
This noncompliant code example shows a thread-safe class DBConnector that creates one JDBC connection per thread. Each connection belongs to one thread, and is not shared by other threads. This is a common use-case because JDBC connections are not meant to be shared by multiple threads.
public final class DBConnector implements Runnable {
private final String query;
DBConnector(String query) {
this.query = query;
}
@Override public void run() {
Connection connection;
try {
// Username and password are hard coded for brevity
connection = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:driver:name", "username", "password");
Statement stmt = connection.createStatement();
ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery(query);
// ...
} catch (SQLException e) {
// Forward to handler
}
// ...
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
DBConnector connector = new DBConnector("suitable query");
Thread thread = new Thread(connector);
thread.start();
Thread.sleep(5000);
thread.interrupt();
}
}
Database connections, like sockets, are not inherently interruptible. Consequently, this design does not permit a client to cancel a task by closing the resource if the corresponding thread is blocked on a long running query such as a join.
Compliant Solution (Statement.cancel())
This compliant solution uses a ThreadLocal wrapper around the connection so that a thread that calls initialValue() obtains a unique connection instance. The advantage of this approach is that a cancelStatement() method can be provided so that other threads or clients can interrupt a long running query when required. The cancelStatement() method invokes Statement.cancel().
public final class DBConnector implements Runnable {
private final String query;
private volatile Statement stmt;
DBConnector(String query) {
this.query = query;
if(getConnection() != null) {
try {
stmt = getConnection().createStatement();
} catch (SQLException e) {
// Forward to handler
}
}
}
private static final ThreadLocal<Connection> connectionHolder = new ThreadLocal<Connection>() {
Connection connection = null;
@Override public Connection initialValue() {
try {
// ...
connection = DriverManager.getConnection
("jdbc:driver:name", "username", "password");
} catch (SQLException e) {
// Forward to handler
}
return connection;
}
};
public Connection getConnection() {
return connectionHolder.get();
}
public boolean cancelStatement() { // Allows client to cancel statement
if(stmt != null) {
try {
stmt.cancel();
return true;
} catch (SQLException e) {
// Forward to handler
}
}
return false;
}
@Override public void run() {
try {
if(stmt == null || (stmt.getConnection() != getConnection())) {
throw new IllegalStateException();
}
ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery(query);
// ...
} catch (SQLException e) {
// Forward to handler
}
// ...
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
DBConnector connector = new DBConnector("suitable query");
Thread thread = new Thread(connector);
thread.start();
Thread.sleep(5000);
connector.cancelStatement();
}
}
The Statement.cancel() method cancels the query provided that the DBMS and driver both support cancellation. It is not possible to conform with this guideline if the DBMS and driver do not support cancellation.
According to the Java API, interface Statement documentation: [[API 06]]
By default, only one
ResultSetobject perStatementobject can be open at the same time. Therefore, if the reading of oneResultSetobject is interleaved with the reading of another, each must have been generated by differentStatementobjects.
This compliant solution ensures that only one ResultSet is associated with the Statement belonging to an instance and consequently, only one thread can access the query results.
Unknown macro: {mc}
// Complete code for connecting to DB
String userName = "user";
String password = "pass";
String url = "jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/dbname";
Class.forName ("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver").newInstance ();
connection = DriverManager.getConnection (url, userName, password);
Risk Assessment
Failing to provide facilities for thread shutdown can cause non-responsiveness and denial of service.
Rule |
Severity |
Likelihood |
Remediation Cost |
Priority |
Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CON24- J |
low |
probable |
medium |
P4 |
L3 |
Automated Detection
TODO
Related Vulnerabilities
Search for vulnerabilities resulting from the violation of this rule on the CERT website
.
References
[[API 06]] Class Thread, method stop, interface ExecutorService
[[Darwin 04]] 24.3 Stopping a Thread
[[JDK7 08]] Concurrency Utilities, More information: Java Thread Primitive Deprecation
[[JPL 06]] 14.12.1. Don't stop and 23.3.3. Shutdown Strategies
[[JavaThreads 04]] 2.4 Two Approaches to Stopping a Thread
[[Goetz 06]] Chapter 7: Cancellation and shutdown
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