trailofbits.go.racy-append-to-slice.racy-append-to-slice

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CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
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Appending $SLICE from multiple goroutines is not concurrency safe

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Defintion

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rules:
  - id: racy-append-to-slice
    message: Appending `$SLICE` from multiple goroutines is not concurrency safe
    languages:
      - go
    severity: ERROR
    metadata:
      category: security
      cwe: "CWE-362: Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper
        Synchronization ('Race Condition')"
      subcategory:
        - vuln
      confidence: MEDIUM
      likelihood: HIGH
      impact: MEDIUM
      technology:
        - --no-technology--
      description: Concurrent calls to `append` from multiple goroutines
      references:
        - https://go.dev/blog/maps#concurrency
      license: CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0
    patterns:
      - pattern: |
          $SLICE = append($SLICE, $ITEM)
      - pattern-either:
          - pattern-inside: |
              var $SLICE []$TYPE
              ...
              for ... {
                ...
                go func(...) {
                  ...
                  $SLICE = append($SLICE, ...)
                  ...
                }(...)
                ...
              }
          - pattern-inside: |
              $SLICE := make([]$TYPE, ...)
              ...
              for ... {
                ...
                go func(...) {
                  ...
                  $SLICE = append($SLICE, ...)
                  ...
                }(...)
                ...
              }
      - pattern-not-inside: |
          $MUTEX.Lock()
          ...
          $MUTEX.Unlock()

Examples

racy-append-to-slice.go

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"sync"
)

func main() {
	res1 := appendToSlice1()
	printResults(res1)

	res2 := appendToSlice2()
	printResults(res2)

	res3 := appendToSlice_FP1()
	printResults(res3)

	res4 := appendToSlice_FP2()
	printResults(res4)

	res5 := appendToSlice_FP3()
	printResults(res5)

	res6 := appendToSlice_FP4()
	printResults(res6)
}

func appendToSlice1() []int {
	var wg sync.WaitGroup
	var r []int
	for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
		wg.Add(1)
		go func(iCpy int) {
			defer wg.Done()
			m := iCpy * 2
			// ruleid: racy-append-to-slice
			r = append(r, m)
		}(i)
	}

	wg.Wait()

	return r
}

func appendToSlice2() []int {
	var wg sync.WaitGroup
	r := make([]int, 10)
	for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
		wg.Add(1)
		go func(iCpy int) {
			defer wg.Done()
			m := iCpy * 2
			// ruleid: racy-append-to-slice
			r = append(r, m)
		}(i)
	}

	wg.Wait()

	return r
}

func appendToSlice_FP1() []int {
	// FP: The `append` is done inside a lock
	var wg sync.WaitGroup
	var rMut sync.Mutex
	var r []int
	for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
		wg.Add(1)
		go func(iCpy int) {
			defer wg.Done()
			m := iCpy * 2
			// ok: racy-append-to-slice
			rMut.Lock()
			r = append(r, m)
			rMut.Unlock()
		}(i)
	}

	wg.Wait()

	return r
}

func appendToSlice_FP2() []int {
	// FP: The `append` is done in the body of the function and not in the goroutine
	var wg sync.WaitGroup
	var r []int

	for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
		// ok: racy-append-to-slice
		r = append(r, i)
	}

	for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
		wg.Add(1)
		go func(iCpy int) {
			defer wg.Done()
		}(i)
	}

	wg.Wait()

	return r
}

func appendToSlice_FP3() []int {
	// FP: The `append` inside the `for` loop of the main function and not in the goroutine
	var wg sync.WaitGroup
	var r []int

	for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
		for j := 0; j < 10; i++ {
			// ok: racy-append-to-slice
			r = append(r, j)
		}
		wg.Add(1)
		go func(iCpy int) {
			defer wg.Done()
		}(i)
	}

	wg.Wait()

	return r
}

func appendToSlice_FP4() []int {
	// FP: The `append` happens on a slice created in the goroutine
	var wg sync.WaitGroup
	for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
		wg.Add(1)
		go func(iCpy int) {
			defer wg.Done()
			var r []int
			m := iCpy * 2
			// ok: racy-append-to-slice
			r = append(r, m)
		}(i)
	}

	wg.Wait()

	var r []int
	return r
}

func printResults(results []int) {
	for v, _ := range results {
		fmt.Println(v)
	}
}