Avoiding Buffer Overruns in String Functions
Windows only

by Dale Fugier (Last updated:  Wednesday, December 5, 2018)

Overview

Buffer overruns can be caused by passing buffers to functions without also passing the buffer’s size.

Consider the following function:

int GetName( wchar_t* pInput )
{
  wchar_t* pBuffer = (wchar_t*)malloc(100);
  wcscpy( pBuffer, pInput ); // might overrun buffer!
  wcscat( pBuffer, L".txt"); // also might overrun buffer!
  <...>
}

A Safer Method

Use the following techniques to write safer functions…

Add a size_t argument for buffer size…

// Pass pointer to buffer and buffer size
int GetName( wchar_t* buffer, size_t buffer_size );

// Ex:
wchar_t buffer[100];
int rc = GetName( buffer, _countof(buffer) );

// Ex:
const size_t kBufLen = 100;
wchar_t* pBuffer = new wchar_t[kBufLen];
GetName( pBuffer, kBufLen );
<...>
delete pBuffer;

// Ex:
const size_t kBufLen = 100;
ON_wString strBuffer;
strBuffer.ReserveArray( kBufLen );
GetName( strBuffer.Array(), kBufLen );

// Ex:
const size_t kBufLen = 100;
CString strBuffer;
GetName( strBuffer.GetBuffer(kBufLen), kBufLen );
strBuffer.ReleaseBuffer();

Change buffer argument to use a string object reference…

// Pass a reference to a ON_wString object
int GetName( ON_wString& str );
// Pass a reference to a CString object
int GetName( CString& str );

// Ex:
ON_wString str;
int rc = GetName( str );

// Ex:
CString str;
int rc = GetName( str );

…change buffer argument to a fixed size array reference…

// Pass a reference to a fixed size array
int GetName( wchar_t(&buffer)[100] );

// Ex:
wchar_t buffer[100];
int rc = GetName( buffer );

Change buffer point argument to reference to a pointer…

// Pass a reference to a pointer
// API allocates buffer, caller required to free it
int GetName( wchar_t*& pBuffer );

// Ex:
wchar_t* pBuffer = 0;
int rc = GetName( pBuffer );
<...>
delete pBuffer;