访问超出其边界的数组(在C语言中)有多危险?有时会发生这样的情况:我从数组外部读取数据(我现在知道我访问了程序的其他部分使用的内存,甚至超出了这个范围),或者我试图将一个值设置为数组外部的索引。程序有时会崩溃,但有时只是运行,只会给出意想不到的结果。

现在我想知道的是,这到底有多危险?如果它损坏了我的程序,那也不算太坏。另一方面,如果它破坏了我程序之外的东西,因为我设法访问了一些完全不相关的内存,那么我想这是非常糟糕的。 我读过很多“任何事情都可能发生”,“细分市场可能是最不坏的问题”,“你的硬盘可能变成粉红色,独角兽可能在你的窗户下唱歌”,这些都很好,但真正的危险是什么?

我的问题:

Can reading values from way outside the array damage anything apart from my program? I would imagine just looking at things does not change anything, or would it for instance change the 'last time opened' attribute of a file I happened to reach? Can setting values way out outside of the array damage anything apart from my program? From this Stack Overflow question I gather that it is possible to access any memory location, that there is no safety guarantee. I now run my small programs from within XCode. Does that provide some extra protection around my program where it cannot reach outside its own memory? Can it harm XCode? Any recommendations on how to run my inherently buggy code safely?

我使用OSX 10.7, Xcode 4.6。


当前回答

二维或多维数组的考虑超出了其他答案中提到的那些。考虑以下函数:

char arr1[2][8];
char arr2[4];
int test1(int n)
{
  arr1[1][0] = 1;
  for (int i=0; i<n; i++) arr1[0][i] = arr2[i];      
  return arr1[1][0];
}
int test2(int ofs, int n)
{
  arr1[1][0] = 1;
  for (int i=0; i<n; i++) *(arr1[0]+i) = arr2[i];      
  return arr1[1][0];
}

The way gcc will processes the first function will not allow for the possibility that an attempt to write arr[0][i] might affect the value of arr[1][0], and the generated code is incapable of returning anything other than a hardcoded value of 1. Although the Standard defines the meaning of array[index] as precisely equivalent to (*((array)+(index))), gcc seems to interpret the notion of array bounds and pointer decay differently in cases which involve using [] operator on values of array type, versus those which use explicit pointer arithmetic.

其他回答

你写的:

我读过很多“任何事情都可能发生”,“市场细分可能是。 “最不坏的问题”,“你的硬盘可能会变成粉红色,独角兽也可能 在你的窗下唱歌,这是很好的,但真正的 危险吗?

这么说吧,给枪上膛。瞄准窗外,不要瞄准,然后开火。危险在哪里?

The issue is that you do not know. If your code overwrites something that crashes your program you are fine because it will stop it into a defined state. However if it does not crash then the issues start to arise. Which resources are under control of your program and what might it do to them? I know at least one major issue that was caused by such an overflow. The issue was in a seemingly meaningless statistics function that messed up some unrelated conversion table for a production database. The result was some very expensive cleanup afterwards. Actually it would have been much cheaper and easier to handle if this issue would have formatted the hard disks ... with other words: pink unicorns might be your least problem.

认为操作系统会保护你的想法是乐观的。如果可能,尽量避免越界写作。

二维或多维数组的考虑超出了其他答案中提到的那些。考虑以下函数:

char arr1[2][8];
char arr2[4];
int test1(int n)
{
  arr1[1][0] = 1;
  for (int i=0; i<n; i++) arr1[0][i] = arr2[i];      
  return arr1[1][0];
}
int test2(int ofs, int n)
{
  arr1[1][0] = 1;
  for (int i=0; i<n; i++) *(arr1[0]+i) = arr2[i];      
  return arr1[1][0];
}

The way gcc will processes the first function will not allow for the possibility that an attempt to write arr[0][i] might affect the value of arr[1][0], and the generated code is incapable of returning anything other than a hardcoded value of 1. Although the Standard defines the meaning of array[index] as precisely equivalent to (*((array)+(index))), gcc seems to interpret the notion of array bounds and pointer decay differently in cases which involve using [] operator on values of array type, versus those which use explicit pointer arithmetic.

Objective-C中的nsarray被分配一个特定的内存块。超过数组的边界意味着您将访问没有分配给数组的内存。这意味着:

This memory can have any value. There's no way of knowing if the data is valid based on your data type. This memory may contain sensitive information such as private keys or other user credentials. The memory address may be invalid or protected. The memory can have a changing value because it's being accessed by another program or thread. Other things use memory address space, such as memory-mapped ports. Writing data to unknown memory address can crash your program, overwrite OS memory space, and generally cause the sun to implode.

从程序的角度来看,您总是想知道代码何时超出了数组的边界。这可能导致返回未知值,导致应用程序崩溃或提供无效数据。

不以根用户或其他特权用户身份运行程序不会对任何系统造成损害,因此通常这可能是一个好主意。

通过将数据写入某个随机的内存位置,你不会直接“破坏”计算机上运行的任何其他程序,因为每个进程都运行在自己的内存空间中。

如果你试图访问任何没有分配给你的进程的内存,操作系统将停止你的程序执行分割错误。

因此,直接(无需以根用户身份运行并直接访问/dev/mem之类的文件),您的程序不会干扰在您的操作系统上运行的任何其他程序。

尽管如此——这可能是你听说过的危险——盲目地将随机数据写入随机的内存位置,你肯定会损坏任何你能损坏的东西。

例如,您的程序可能希望删除存储在程序某处的文件名所给出的特定文件。如果你不小心覆盖了文件名所在的位置,你可能会删除一个完全不同的文件。

如果您曾经做过系统级编程或嵌入式系统编程,如果您随机写入内存位置,可能会发生非常糟糕的事情。旧系统和许多微控制器使用内存映射IO,因此写入映射到外设寄存器的内存位置可能会造成严重破坏,特别是如果它是异步完成的。

一个例子是编程闪存。内存芯片上的编程模式是通过将特定的值序列写入芯片地址范围内的特定位置来实现的。如果在此期间另一个进程写入芯片中的任何其他位置,则会导致编程周期失败。

在某些情况下,硬件会将地址环绕起来(地址中最重要的位/字节会被忽略),因此写入超出物理地址空间末端的地址实际上会导致数据在中间写入。

最后,像MC68000这样的老cpu可能会锁定到只有硬件重置才能让它们重新工作的地步。我已经几十年没有使用它们了,但我相信当它在试图处理异常时遇到总线错误(不存在内存)时,它会简单地停止,直到断言硬件重置。

我最大的建议是为一个产品做一个明显的宣传,但我个人对此没有兴趣,我也不以任何方式与他们联系——但基于几十年的C编程和嵌入式系统,可靠性是至关重要的,Gimpel的PC Lint不仅可以检测这类错误,还可以通过不断地唠叨你的坏习惯,让你成为更好的C/ c++程序员。

我还建议你阅读MISRA C编码标准,如果你能从别人那里得到一份的话。我没有看到最近的任何一个,但在过去的日子里,他们给了一个很好的解释,为什么你应该/不应该做他们覆盖的事情。

我不知道你的情况,但当我第二次或第三次从任何应用程序中得到一个coredump或挂起时,我对任何公司的看法都会下降一半。第四次或第五次,不管是什么包装都变成了架子,我用一根木桩穿过包装/光盘的中心,只是为了确保它永远不会回来缠着我。