alt Hacker NewsHow would using a language different than C help here? At it's core this bug is a logic bug, where "*" == crypt(x), because crypt in musl started returning "*" in some cases some years ago. This could be Rust. This could be Go.
Not every C vuln is a memory safety problem.
Replies
> How would using a language different than C help here?
Easier to formulate invariants and check/prove them. Better language correlates with safer software.
>because crypt in musl started returning "*" in some cases some years ago
In Rust, the type of the return value would be a `Result<T, E>`, which means the chain of events that led to this would never have started in the first place.
why does this logic bug exist? why are they returning a string, why not a result type, (nil, err), or something else?
oh right, because c is a crusty old language with barely any features.
Another comment said that returning a * was to avoid returning null which would crash users of the library who didn't check for null. That seems like a C smell to me