[analyzer] Don't assume values bound to references are automatically non-null.

While there is no such thing as a "null reference" in the C++ standard,
many implementations of references (including Clang's) do not actually
check that the location bound to them is non-null. Thus unlike a regular
null dereference, this will not cause a problem at runtime until the
reference is actually used. In order to catch these cases, we need to not
prune out paths on which the input pointer is null.

llvm-svn: 161288

1 files changed, 18 insertions, 3 deletions

diff --git a/clang/lib/StaticAnalyzer/Checkers/DereferenceChecker.cpp b/clang/lib/StaticAnalyzer/Checkers/DereferenceChecker.cpp
index a94d7a773ec..e98c131ce97 100644
--- a/clang/lib/StaticAnalyzer/Checkers/DereferenceChecker.cpp
+++ b/clang/lib/StaticAnalyzer/Checkers/DereferenceChecker.cpp
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ void DereferenceChecker::checkLocation(SVal l, bool isLoad, const Stmt* S,
 
 void DereferenceChecker::checkBind(SVal L, SVal V, const Stmt *S,
                                    CheckerContext &C) const {
-  // If we're binding to a reference, check if the value is potentially null.
+  // If we're binding to a reference, check if the value is known to be null.
   if (V.isUndef())
     return;
 
@@ -265,8 +265,23 @@ void DereferenceChecker::checkBind(SVal L, SVal V, const Stmt *S,
     }
   }
 
-  // From here on out, assume the value is non-null.
-  C.addTransition(StNonNull);
+  // Unlike a regular null dereference, initializing a reference with a
+  // dereferenced null pointer does not actually cause a runtime exception in
+  // Clang's implementation of references.
+  //
+  //   int &r = *p; // safe??
+  //   if (p != NULL) return; // uh-oh
+  //   r = 5; // trap here
+  //
+  // The standard says this is invalid as soon as we try to create a "null
+  // reference" (there is no such thing), but turning this into an assumption
+  // that 'p' is never null will not match our actual runtime behavior.
+  // So we do not record this assumption, allowing us to warn on the last line
+  // of this example.
+  //
+  // We do need to add a transition because we may have generated a sink for
+  // the "implicit" null dereference.
+  C.addTransition(State, this);
 }
 
 void ento::registerDereferenceChecker(CheckerManager &mgr) {