The definition of pointer arithmetic from the C++ Standard, [expr.add], paragraph 7 [ISO/IEC 14882-2014], states the following:

For addition or subtraction, if the expressions P or Q have type “pointer to cv T”, where T is different from the cv-unqualified array element type, the behavior is undefined. [Note: In particular, a pointer to a base class cannot be used for pointer arithmetic when the array contains objects of a derived class type. —end note]

Pointer arithmetic does not account for polymorphic object sizes, and attempting to perform pointer arithmetic on a polymorphic object value results in undefined behavior.

The C++ Standard, [expr.sub], paragraph 1 [ISO/IEC 14882-2014], defines array subscripting as being identical to pointer arithmetic. Specifically, it states the following:

The expression E1[E2] is identical (by definition) to *((E1)+(E2)).

Do not use pointer arithmetic, including array subscripting, on polymorphic objects.

The following code examples assume the following static variables and class definitions.

int globI;
double globD;

struct S {
  int i;
  
  S() : i(globI++) {}
};

struct T : S {
  double d;
  
  T() : S(), d(globD++) {}
};

Noncompliant Code Example (Pointer Arithmetic)

In this noncompliant code example, f() accepts an array of S objects as its first parameter. However, main() passes an array of T objects as the first argument to f(), which results in undefined behavior due to the pointer arithmetic used within the for loop.

#include <iostream>
 
// ... definitions for S, T, globI, globD ...

void f(const S *someSes, std::size_t count) { 
  for (const S *end = someSes + count; someSes != end; ++someSes) {
    std::cout << someSes->i << std::endl;
  }
}

int main() {
  T test[5];
  f(test, 5);
}

Noncompliant Code Example (Array Subscripting)

In this noncompliant code example, the for loop uses array subscripting. Since array subscripts are computed using pointer arithmetic, this code also results in undefined behavior.

#include <iostream>
 
// ... definitions for S, T, globI, globD ...

void f(const S *someSes, std::size_t count) { 
  for (std::size_t i = 0; i < count; ++i) {
    std::cout << someSes[i].i << std::endl;
  }
}

int main() {
  T test[5];
  f(test, 5);
}

Compliant Solution (Array)

Instead of having an array of objects, an array of pointers solves the problem of the objects being of different sizes, as in this compliant solution.

#include <iostream>

// ... definitions for S, T, globI, globD ...

void f(const S * const *someSes, std::size_t count) { 
  for (const S * const *end = someSes + count; someSes != end; ++someSes) {
    std::cout << (*someSes)->i << std::endl;
  }
}

int main() {
  S *test[] = {new T, new T, new T, new T, new T};
  f(test, 5);
  for (auto v : test) {
    delete v;
  }
}

The elements in the arrays are no longer polymorphic objects (instead, they are pointers to polymorphic objects), and so there is no undefined behavior with the pointer arithmetic.

Compliant Solution (std::vector)

Another approach is to use a standard template library (STL) container instead of an array and have f() accept iterators as parameters, as in this compliant solution. However, because STL containers require homogeneous elements, pointers are still required within the container.

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>

// ... definitions for S, T, globI, globD ...
template <typename Iter>
void f(Iter i, Iter e) {
  for (; i != e; ++i) {
    std::cout << (*i)->i << std::endl;
  }
}

int main() {
  std::vector<S *> test{new T, new T, new T, new T, new T};
  f(test.cbegin(), test.cend());
  for (auto v : test) {
    delete v;
  }
}

Risk Assessment

Using arrays polymorphically can result in memory corruption, which could lead to an attacker being able to execute arbitrary code.

Automated Detection

Tool	Version	Checker	Description
Axivion Bauhaus Suite		CertC++-CTR56
CodeSonar		LANG.STRUCT.PARITH	Pointer Arithmetic
Helix QAC		C++3073
Parasoft C/C++test		CERT_CPP-CTR56-a CERT_CPP-CTR56-b CERT_CPP-CTR56-c	Don't treat arrays polymorphically A pointer to an array of derived class objects should not be converted to a base class pointer Do not treat arrays polymorphically
LDRA tool suite		567 S	Enhanced Enforcement
Polyspace Bug Finder		CERT C++: CTR56-CPP	Checks for pointer arithmetic on polymorphic object (rule fully covered)
PVS-Studio		V777

Related Vulnerabilities

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

Related Guidelines

Bibliography