INT01-C. Use rsize_t or size_t for all integer values representing the size of an object

The size_t type is the unsigned integer type of the result of the sizeof operator. Variables of type size_t are guaranteed to be of sufficient precision to represent the size of an object. The limit of size_t is specified by the SIZE_MAX macro.

The type size_t generally covers the entire address space. ISO/IEC TR 24731-1-2007 introduces a new type rsize_t, defined to be size_t but explicitly used to hold the size of a single object. In code that documents this purpose by using the type rsize_t, the size of an object can be checked to verify that it is no larger than RSIZE_MAX, the maximum size of a normal single object, which provides additional input validation for library functions. See STR07-C. Use TR 24731 for remediation of existing string manipulation code for additional discussion of TR 24731-1.

Any variable that is used to represent the size of an object, including integer values used as sizes, indices, loop counters, and lengths, should be declared as rsize_t if available, or otherwise as size_t.

Noncompliant Code Example

In this noncompliant code example, the dynamically allocated buffer referenced by p overflows for values of n > INT_MAX.

char *copy(size_t n, const char *str) {
  int i;
  char *p;

  if (n == 0) {
    /* Handle unreasonable object size error */
  }
  p = (char *)malloc(n);
  if (p == NULL) {
    /* Handle malloc failure */
  }
  for ( i = 0; i < n; ++i ) {
    p[i] = *str++;
  }
  return p;
}

/* ... */

char str[] = "hi there";
char *p = copy(sizeof(str), str);

Signed integer overflow causes undefined behavior. The following are two possible conditions under which this code constitutes a serious vulnerability:

sizeof(size_t) == sizeof(int)

The unsigned n may contain a value greater than INT_MAX. Assuming quiet wraparound on signed overflow, the loop executes n times because the comparison i < n is an unsigned comparison. Once i is incremented beyond INT_MAX, i takes on negative values starting with (INT_MIN). Consequently, the memory locations referenced by p[i] precede the memory referenced by p and a write-outside-array bounds occurs.

sizeof(size_t) > sizeof(int)

Similar behavior as the case above occurs for values of n <= UINT_MAX. For values of n > UINT_MAX, the expression ++i will wrap around to zero before the condition i < n ever evaluates to false. This causes all memory within [INT_MIN, INT_MAX] from the beginning of the output buffer to be overwritten in an infinite loop.

Compliant Solution (TR 24731-1)

Declaring i to be of type rsize_t eliminates the possible integer overflow condition (in this example).  Also, the argument n is changed to be of type rsize_t to document additional validation in the form of a check against RSIZE_MAX.

char *copy(rsize_t n, const char *str) {
  rsize_t i;
  char *p;

  if (n == 0 || n > RSIZE_MAX) {
    /* Handle unreasonable object size error */
  }
  p = (char *)malloc(n);
  if (p == NULL) {
    /* Handle malloc failure */
  }
  for ( i = 0; i < n; ++i ) {
    p[i] = *str++;
  }
  return p;
}

/* ... */

char str[] = "hi there";
char *p = copy(sizeof(str), str);

Noncompliant Code Example

In this noncompliant code example, the value of length is read from a network connection and passed as an argument to a wrapper to malloc() to allocate the appropriate data block. Provided that the size of an unsigned long is equal to the size of an unsigned int, and both sizes are equal to or smaller than the size of size_t, this code runs as expected. However, if the size of an unsigned long is greater than the size of an unsigned int, the value stored in length may be truncated when passed as an argument to alloc().

void *alloc(unsigned int blocksize) {
  return malloc(blocksize);
}

int read_counted_string(int fd) {
  unsigned long length;
  unsigned char *data;

  if (read_integer_from_network(fd, &length) < 0) {
    return -1;
  }

  data = (unsigned char*)alloc(length);

  if (read_network_data(fd, data, length) < 0) {
    free(data);
    return -1;
  }
  data[length] = '\0';

  /* ... */
  free( data);
  return 0;
}

Compliant Solution (TR 24731-1)

Declaring both length and the blocksize argument to alloc() as rsize_t eliminates the possibility of truncation. This compliant solution assumes that read_integer_from_network() and read_network_data() can also be modified to accept a length argument of type pointer to rsize_t and rsize_t, respectively. If these functions are part of an external library that cannot be updated, care must be taken when casting length into an unsigned long to ensure that integer truncation does not occur.

void *alloc(rsize_t blocksize) {
  if (blocksize == 0 || blocksize > RSIZE_MAX) {
    /* Handle error */
  }
  return malloc(blocksize);
}

int read_counted_string(int fd) {
  rsize_t length;
  unsigned char *data;

  if (read_integer_from_network(fd, &length) < 0) {
    return -1;
  }

  data = (unsigned char*)alloc(length);

  if (read_network_data(fd, data, length) < 0) {
    free(data);
    return -1;
  }
  data[length] = '\0';

  /* ... */
  free( data);
  return 0;
}

Risk Assessment

The improper calculation or manipulation of an object's size can result in exploitable vulnerabilities.

Automated Detection

Fortify SCA Version 5.0 with CERT C Rule Pack will detect integer operations that cause overflow, but not all cases where size_t is not used.

Splint Version 3.1.1 can detect violations of this rule.

Compass/ROSE can detect violations of this recommendation. In particular, it catches comparisons and operations where one operand is of type size_t or rsize_t and the other is not.

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 INT01-CPP. Use rsize_t or size_t for all integer values representing the size of an object.

References

[[ISO/IEC 9899:1999]] Section 7.17, "Common definitions <stddef.h>", Section 7.20.3, "Memory management functions"
[[ISO/IEC TR 24731-1:2007]]

      04. Integers (INT)