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Difference between revisions of "StarlingX/Security/Banned C Functions"

(Guidance)
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|strcpy, wcscpy
 
|strcpy, wcscpy
| style="color: red; background-color:#ffffcc;" | unbounded, banned; use strncpy
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| style="color: white; background-color:#ff0000;" | unbounded, banned; use strncpy
 
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|strncpy
 
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|strcat, wcscat
 
|strcat, wcscat
| style="color: red" | unbounded, banned; use strncat
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| style="color: white; background-color:#ff0000" | unbounded, banned; use strncat
 
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|strncat
 
|strncat

Revision as of 21:55, 16 November 2018

Guidance

Prohibiting the use of banned functions is a good way to remove a significant number of potential code vulnerabilities from C and C++ code. This list is the compiled library of known bad functions that should be removed to reduce vulnerabilities. It is derived from experience with real-world security bugs and focuses primarily on functions that can lead to buffer overruns (reference: msdn). Specifically, for starling X, the main guidelines are that:

  • Only functions in the standard C runtime library—libc—are mandated
  • Unbounded functions are banned unless specifically noted
  • Stack allocation functions are banned unless specifically approved by the project core

There is no requirement to retrofit existing upstream code to meet these guidelines. A summary of the policy is provided below.

Func Status
strcpy, wcscpy unbounded, banned; use strncpy
strncpy inspect for unterminated/truncated output
strcat, wcscat unbounded, banned; use strncat
strncat inspect for truncated output
sprintf, vsprintf unbounded, banned; use snprintf, vsnprintf
snprintf inspect for result fitting in buffer: snprintf(buf, size, ...) < size
vsnprintf banned except with approval from core. requires detailed inspection to avoid va_list pitfalls
strtok unbounded, banned; use strtok_r or strsep
strtok_r, strsep Inspect for terminated input buffer
sscanf, vsscanf unbounded, banned
gets unbounded, banned, use fgets() instead
ato* banned, use equivalent strto* functions
*toa Non-standard, inspect for output buffer length; prefer snprintf
strlen, wcslen banned except static strings; use strnlen with max length constant
memcpy, memmove allowed
alloca banned except with approval of core. requires detailed inspection to avoid stack overflow

Color Coding

Allowed w/Inspection Banned Banned w/Exceptions