I have a template function with a specialization that performs zeroization:
template <class T>
void SecureWipeBuffer(T *buf, size_t n)
{
volatile T *p = buf+n;
while (n--)
*((volatile T*)(--p)) = 0;
}
...
template <>
void SecureWipeBuffer(word64* p, size_t n)
{
asm volatile("rep stosq" : "+c"(n), "+D"(p) : "a"(0) : "memory");
}
Coverity is producing a finding on SecureWipeBuffer
:
word64 val;
...
SecureWipeBuffer(&val, 1);
The finding is:
>>> CID 164713: Incorrect expression (SIZEOF_MISMATCH)
>>> Passing argument "&val" of type "word64 *" and argument "1UL" to function "SecureWipeBuffer" is suspicious because "sizeof (word64)" /*8*/ is expected.
275 SecureWipeBuffer(&val, 1);
How do train Coverity that SecureWipeBuffer
takes a count of elements, and not a count of bytes?
EDIT: we've picked up two similar findings with our Windows code. In addition, Coverity is producing findings on standard library functions. Its as if it does not realize C++ deals with counts of elements, and not counts of bytes.
Below is from Microsft standard library code in <xmemory>
25 if (_Count == 0)
26 ;
27 else if (((size_t)(-1) / sizeof (_Ty) < _Count)
CID 12348 (#1 of 1): Wrong sizeof argument (SIZEOF_MISMATCH)
suspicious_sizeof: Passing argument _Count * 4U /* sizeof (std::allocator<void *>::value_type) */
to function operator new which returns a value of type std::allocator<void *>::value_type is suspicious.
28 || (_Ptr = ::operator new(_Count * sizeof (_Ty))) == 0)
29 _Xbad_alloc(); // report no memory