Coverity SECURE_CODING - CID 10689

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CID: 10689
Checker: SECURE_CODING
Category: No category available
CWE definition: http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/676.html
File: /tmp/buildd/unity-5.4.0/services/panel-service.c
Function: panel_service_get_indicator_entry_by_id()
Code snippet:
403 IndicatorObjectEntry *probably_entry;
404 PanelServicePrivate *priv = self->priv;
405
406 /* FIXME: eeek, why do we even do this? */
CID 10689 - SECURE_CODING
[VERY RISKY]. Using "sscanf" can cause a buffer overflow when done incorrectly. sscanf() assumes an arbitrarily large string, so callers must use correct precision specifiers or never use sscanf(). Use correct precision specifiers or do your own parsing.
407 if (sscanf (entry_id, "%p", &probably_entry) == 1)
408 {
409 /* check that there really is such IndicatorObjectEntry */
410 indicator = g_hash_table_lookup (priv->entry2indicator_hash,
411 probably_entry);
412 if (object) *object = indicator;

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Source file with Coverity annotations.

[Tim Penhey (thumper)]

I wonder why we are using sscanf, rather than atoi?