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CodeQL Workshop — Identifying Dangling Pointers in C and C++

Acknowledgements

This workshop is based on this write-up and the LifetimeProfile.qll library from the CodeQL Coding Standards repository.

Setup Instructions

  • Install Visual Studio Code.
  • Install the CodeQL extension for Visual Studio Code.
  • Install the latest version of the CodeQL CLI.
  • Clone this repository: 
    git clone https://github.com/kraiouchkine/codeql-workshop-dangling-pointers-c
  • Install the CodeQL pack dependencies using the command CodeQL: Install Pack Dependencies and select exercises, solutions, exercises-tests, and solutions-tests from the list of packs.
  • If you have CodeQL on your PATH, build the database using build-database.sh and load the database with the VS Code CodeQL extension.
  • ❗Important❗: Run initialize-qltests.sh to initialize the tests. Otherwise, you will not be able to run the QLTests (in exercises-tests and solutions-tests).

Introduction

A dangling pointer is a memory safety violation where the pointer does not point to a valid object. These dangling pointers are the result of not modifying the value of the pointer after the pointed to object is destructed or not properly initializing the pointer.

The use of a dangling pointer can result in a security issue, particularly in C++ if that dangling pointer is used to invoke a virtual method and an attacker was able to overwrite the parts of the memory that would have contained the vtable of the object.

The following snippet demonstrates how a dangling pointer can occur:

void dangling_pointer() {
	char **p = nullptr;
	{
		char * s = "hello world";
		p = &s;
	}
	printf("%s", *p);
}

Another less obvious case is:

void dangling_pointer() {
	std::string_view s = "hello world"s;
	std::cout << s << std::endl;
}

After the full expression from the preceding example is evaluated, the temporary object is destroyed.

Many more interesting examples are discussed here: https://herbsutter.com/2018/09/20/lifetime-profile-v1-0-posted/

To find these issues, we can implement an analysis that tracks lifetimes. A nice specification for a local lifetime analysis is given by https://github.com/isocpp/CppCoreGuidelines/blob/master/docs/Lifetime.pdf.

The gist of the analysis is, for each local variable, to track the things that it can point to at a particular location in the program. These locations are other local variables and special values for global variables, null values, and invalid values. Whenever a variable goes out of scope, each reference to that variable in a points-to set is invalidated.

In the next few exercises, we are going to implement a simplified version of the lifetime profile to find the dangling pointer in the following example:

extern void printf(char *, ...);

void simple_dangling_pointer() {
  char **p;
  {
    char *s = "hello world!";
    p = &s;
  }
  printf("%s", *p);
  char *s = "hello world!";
  p = &s;
  printf("%s", *p);
  return;
}

The simplified version will track 3 possible points-to values.

  1. Variable; A pointer points to another pointer. We will only consider local variables represented by the class LocalVariable.
  2. Invalid; A pointer is not initialized or points to a variable that went out of scope.
  3. Unknown; A pointer is assigned something other than the address of another LocalVariable (e.g., the address of a string.).

Exercise 1

In the first exercise we are going to model the entries of the points-to set that we are going to associated with pointers at locations in the program as well as the two possible Invalid value types: uninitialized and out of scope.

Task 1

Start by implementing the algebraic datatype PSetEntry that represents the possible entries of our points-to set with the three values listed above. A template has been provided.

Task 2

Next, to be able to represent the invalid values, we need to implement another algebraic datatype for the two possible values. Note that besides the newtype, Exercise1.ql provides a template of a class that extends from the algebraic datatype. This is a standard pattern that allows us to associate a convenient toString member predicate that we will use to print the invalid reason.

The type TInvalidReason creates a user-defined type with values that are neither primitive values nor entities for database. Each of two values represent an invalid points-to value. The case when a pointer is not initialized or pointing to a pointer that is out of scope.

The TVariableOutOfScope branch associates a new value of the branch type to the pair (LocalVariable, ControlFlowNode) if the local variable goes out of scope at that point in the program.

Task 3

Define the goesOutOfScope predicate using the following predicates:

  • Element::getParentScope (LocalVariable derives from Element)
  • Stmt::getFollowingStmt (BlockStmt derives from Stmt)

Run the query and ensure that you have three results.

Exercise 2

With the points-to set entries modeled we can start to implement parts of our points-to set that will associate points-to set entries to local variables at a program location. That map will be implemented by the predicate pointsToMap.

In this predicate we must consider three cases:

  1. The local variable lv is assigned a value at location cfn that defines the points-to set entry pse.
  2. The local local variable lv is not assigned so we have to propagate the points-to set entry from a previous location.
  3. The local variable lv is not assigned, but points to a variable that went out of scope at location cfn so we need to invalid the entry for that variable.

In this exercise we are going to implement the first case by implementing the getAnAssignedPSetEntry predicate and a one-liner use of it in pointsToMap.

Hints

  1. The class DeclStmt models a declaration statement and the predicate getADeclaration relates what is declared (e.g., a Variable)
  2. For a Variable we can get the Expr that represent the value that is assigned to the variable with the predicate getAnAssignedValue.
  3. The AddressOfExpr models an "address taken of" operation, which when assigned to a variable, can be used to determine if one variable points-to another variable. Consider using recursion to handle this case.

Exercise 3

With case 1 of the pointsToMap being implemented we are going to implement cases 2 and 3. First, however, we need to implement the isPSetReassigned predicate.

  • The predicate isPSetReassigned should hold if a new points-to entry should be assigned at that location. This happens when:
    • A local variable is declared and is uninitialized.
    • A local variable is assigned a value.
  • The predicate getAnAssignedPSEntry should relate a program location and variable to a points-to entry.

For case 2, we now need to propagate a points-to entry from a previous location.

For case 3, we need to invalidate a points-to entry if the entry at the previous location is a PSetVar for which the variable goes out of scope at our current location cfn.

Note that we only consider case 2 and case 3 if the variable doesn't go out of scope at the current location, otherwise we stop propagation for of points-to entries for that variable.

predicate pointsToMap(ControlFlowNode cfn, LocalVariable lv, PSEntry pse) {
	if isPSetReassigned(cfn, lv)
	then pse = getAnAssignedPSetEntry(cfn, lv)
	else
		exists(ControlFlowNode pred, PSEntry prevPse |
            // `lv` does not go out of scope at `cfn`
            // and pred/prevPse are bound via a predecessor
            // entry in the `pointsToMap` relation
		|
			// case 2
			or
			// case 3
		)
}

Exercise 4

With the points-to map implemented we can find uses of dangling pointers.

Implement the class DanglingPointerAccess that finds uses of dangling points.

Hint

  • You will need to use TVariableOutOfScope, but TVariableOutOfScope binds an LocalVariable to the specific ControlFlowNode at which it went out of scope; the LocalVariable and ControlFlowNode that the PointerDereferenceExpr references may be different. Therefore, use a "don't-care expression".