Never use deprecated methods in new code. Refer to the complete list of deprecated APIs available in the Java SE 6 documentation [[API 2006]]. The guideline THI01-J. Do not invoke ThreadGroup methods describes issues that can result from using deprecated and obsolete methods.
Classes that are unofficially deprecated are considered to be obsolete. For example, the java.util.Dictionary class provides the same functionality as the Map interface and is generally outmoded. The java.util.Calendar class suffers from multi-threading related issues; its subclasses, such as java.util.GregorianCalendar, share these problems. Similarly, all of the subclasses of the abstract class java.text.Format are thread-unsafe. These classes must be avoided in multi-threaded code.
Risk Assessment
Using deprecated methods in program code can lead to unexpected, ill-defined behavior.
Guideline |
Severity |
Likelihood |
Remediation Cost |
Priority |
Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MET15-J |
high |
likely |
medium |
P18 |
L1 |
Automated Detection
Detecting uses of deprecated methods is straightforward.
Related Vulnerabilities
Search for vulnerabilities resulting from the violation of this guideline on the CERT website.
Bibliography
[[API 2006]] Deprecated API
[[SDN 2008]] Bug database, Bug ID 4264153
[[MITRE 2009]] CWE ID 589
MET14-J. Follow the general contract when implementing the compareTo method 05. Methods (MET) MET16-J. Ensure that the clone method calls super.clone