Forum Discussion

matthew_jenkins's avatar
matthew_jenkins
New Contributor
10 years ago

Can AQTime detect buffer overrun in C/C++ code?

E.g. strcpy where the destination is too short for the string being copied.   Thanks, Matthew
matthew_jenkins's avatar
matthew_jenkins
New Contributor
10 years ago

Hi Alex,

 

Thank you for your suggestion which I tested using code similar to:

 

char sz1[10];

char sz2[10];

sprintf(sz2, "12345678901234");

 

Unfortunately AQTime didn't detect the overrun. I think the reason can be found in the description of how AQTime implements the "Check Memory Bounds" option: http://support.smartbear.com/viewarticle/43359/

 

This says: "AQtime does not track allocations done on the stack, therefore you cannot track violations in the stack memory blocks."

 

It seems AQTime doesn't support what I am looking for.

 

Thanks, Matthew

 

 

 

 

    • matthew_jenkins's avatar
      matthew_jenkins
      New Contributor
      10 years ago

      Hi Alex,

       

      I consulted AQTime support as you suggested. The comeuppance seems to be (quoting from one of the emails I received) "AQtime can detect buffer overruns' negative side effects, i.e. stack corruptions, not the overruns themselves.".

       

      I have intepreted this as meaning: if an overrun only goes into an adjacent char array then it wont be detected; if it corrupts the stack AQTime can be used to investigate the overrun.

       

      Regards, Matthew

      • AlexKaras's avatar
        AlexKaras
        Champion Level 3
        10 years ago

        Hi Matthew,

         

        Thank you a lot for the update. Much appreciated.

         

        Just wondering, what tool do you use to create a code? I am far not C/C++ expert, but I remember that there is some compiler option for MS compiler that inserts some signature on memory allocation and asserts its value during runtime.

        Any reason why it cannot be used? (At least for the debug builds?)