V1072. Buffer needs to be securely cleared on all execution paths.

The analyzer detected a potential error. A buffer containing secure information will not be cleared.

Consider a synthetic example:

int f()
{
  char password[size];
  if (!use1(password))
    return -1;
  use2(password);
  memset_s(password, sizeof(password), 0, sizeof(password));
  return 0;
}

This situation is similar to a memory leak. Despite the fact that the buffer is cleared using the safe function 'memset_s', if the function exits under the condition, the data will remain in memory.

To avoid the error, the buffer should be cleared on all execution paths.

A fixed example:

int f()
{
  char password[size];
  if (use1(password))
  {
    use2(password);
    memset_s(password, sizeof(password), 0, sizeof(password));
    return 0;
  }
  return -1;
}

A similar situation will occur if a function throws an exception before the buffer is cleared.

Example:

int f()
{
  char password[size];
  if (!use1(password))
    throw Exception{};
  
  RtlSecureZeroMemory(password, size);
  return 0;
}

A possible fixed version:

int f()
{
  char password[size];
  if (use1(password))
  {
    RtlSecureZeroMemory(password, size);
    return 0;
  }
  throw Exception{};
}

This diagnostic is classified as: