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Security Features in the CRT

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Many old CRT functions have newer, more secure versions. If a secure function exists, the older, less secure version is marked as deprecated. The new version has the _s ("secure") suffix.

In this context, "deprecated" means that use of the function isn't recommended. It doesn't mean the function will be removed from the CRT.

The secure functions don't prevent or correct security errors. Instead, they catch errors when they occur. They do extra checks for error conditions. If there's an error, they invoke an error handler (see Parameter validation).

For example, the strcpy function can't tell if the string it copies is too large for the destination buffer. Its secure counterpart, strcpy_s, takes the size of the buffer as a parameter. So, it can determine if a buffer overrun will occur. If you use strcpy_s to copy 11 characters into a 10 character buffer, that's an error on your part; strcpy_s can't correct your mistake. But it can detect your error and inform you by invoking the invalid parameter handler.

Eliminating deprecation warnings

There are several ways to eliminate deprecation warnings for the older, less secure functions. The simplest is simply to define _CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS or use the warning pragma. Either will disable deprecation warnings, but the security issues that caused the warnings still exist. It's better to leave deprecation warnings enabled and take advantage of the new CRT security features.

In C++, the easiest way to eliminate the deprecation warnings is to use Secure template overloads. The overloads eliminate deprecation warnings in many cases. They replace calls to deprecated functions with calls to secure versions of the functions. For example, consider this deprecated call to strcpy:

char szBuf[10];
strcpy(szBuf, "test"); // warning: deprecated

Defining _CRT_SECURE_CPP_OVERLOAD_STANDARD_NAMES as 1 eliminates the warning by changing the strcpy call to strcpy_s, which prevents buffer overruns. For more information, see Secure template overloads.

For those deprecated functions without secure template overloads, you should definitely consider manually updating your code to use the secure versions.

Another source of deprecation warnings, unrelated to security, is the POSIX functions. Replace POSIX function names with their standard equivalents (for example, change access to _access), or disable POSIX-related deprecation warnings by defining _CRT_NONSTDC_NO_WARNINGS. For more information, see Compatibility.

More security features

Some of the security features include:

  • Parameter Validation

    Secure functions, and many of their unsecure counterparts, validate parameters. Validation may include:

    • Checking for NULL values.
    • Checking enumerated values for validity.
    • Checking that integral values are in valid ranges.

    For more information, see Parameter validation.

    A handler for invalid parameters is also accessible to the developer. When a function encounters an invalid parameter, instead of asserting and exiting the application, the CRT allows you to check these problems via _set_invalid_parameter_handler or _set_thread_local_invalid_parameter_handler.

  • Sized Buffers

    You must pass the buffer size to any secure function that writes to a buffer. The secure versions validate that the buffer is large enough before writing to it. The validation helps avoid dangerous buffer overrun errors that could allow malicious code to execute. These functions usually return an errno error code and invoke the invalid parameter handler if the size of the buffer is too small. Functions that read from input buffers, such as gets, have secure versions that require you to specify a maximum size.

  • Null termination

    Some functions that left potentially non-terminated strings have secure versions, which ensure that strings are properly null-terminated.

  • Enhanced error reporting

    The secure functions return error codes with more error information than was available with the pre-existing functions. The secure functions and many of the pre-existing functions now set errno and often return an errno code type as well, to provide better error reporting.

  • Filesystem security

    Secure file I/O APIs support secure file access in the default case.

  • Windows security

    Secure process APIs enforce security policies and allow ACLs to be specified.

  • Format string syntax checking

    Invalid strings are detected, for example, when you use incorrect type field characters in printf format strings.

See also

Parameter validation
Secure template overloads
C runtime (CRT) and C++ Standard Library (STL) .lib files