The function is obsolete and cannot guarantee that a pointer is valid or referenced memory is safe to use.
There are a number of reasons not to use the IsBadXXXPtr()
class of functions. These functions are:
1) Not thread safe.
2) Often implicated in crashes caused by their probing of invalid memory addresses.
3) Erroneously believed to carry out proper error handling during exception conditions.
Example: The following code uses IsBadWritePtr()
in an attempt to prevent bad memory writes.
if (IsBadWritePtr(ptr, length))
{
[handle error]
}
[1] Standards Mapping - OWASP Top 10 2004 - (OWASP 2004) A9 Application Denial of Service
[2] Standards Mapping - Security Technical Implementation Guide Version 3 - (STIG 3) APP6080 CAT II
[3] Standards Mapping - Common Weakness Enumeration - (CWE) CWE ID 730
[4] IsBadWritePtr Function Microsoft
[5] Raymond Chen IsBadXxxPtr should really be called CrashProgramRandomly
[6] Standards Mapping - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Version 1.1 - (PCI 1.1) Requirement 6.5.9