Referencing invalid memory locations with C++ Iterators
- by themoondothshine
I am a big fan of GCC, but recently I noticed a vague anomaly. Using __gnu_cxx::__normal_iterator (ie, the most common iterator type used in libstdc++, the C++ STL) it is possible to refer to an arbitrary memory location and even change its value without causing an exception! Is this expected behavior? If so, isn't a security loophole?
Here's an example:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main() {
basic_string<char> str("Hello world!");
basic_string<char>::iterator iter = str.end();
iter += str.capacity() + 99999;
*iter = 'x';
cout << "Value: " << *iter << endl;
}
