Why strcpy_s is safer than strcpy?

Question

When I am trying to use the strcpy function the visual studio gives me an error

error C4996: \'strcpy\': This function or variable may be unsafe. Co         


        

Answer 1

Why is strcpy_s() "safer"? Well, it's actually quite involved. (Note that this answer ignores any specific code issues in the posted code.)

First, when MSVC tells you standard functions such as strcpy() are "deprecated", at best Microsoft is being incomplete. At worst, Microsoft is downright lying to you. Ascribe whatever motiviation you want to Microsoft here, but strcpy() and a host of other functions that MSVC calls "deprecated" are standard C functions and they are most certainly NOT deprecated by anyone other than Microsoft. So when MSVC warns you that a function required to be implemented in any conforming C compiler (most of which then flow by requirement into C++...), it omits the "by Microsoft" part.

The "safer" functions that Microsoft is "helpfully" suggesting that you use - such as strcpy_s() would be standard, as they are part of the optional Annex K of the C standard, had Microsoft implemented them per the standard.

Per N1967 - Field Experience With Annex K — Bounds Checking Interfaces

Microsoft Visual Studio implements an early version of the APIs. However, the implementation is incomplete and conforms neither to C11 nor to the original TR 24731-1. For example, it doesn't provide the set_constraint_handler_s function but instead defines a _invalid_parameter_handler _set_invalid_parameter_handler(_invalid_parameter_handler) function with similar behavior but a slightly different and incompatible signature. It also doesn't define the abort_handler_s and ignore_handler_s functions, the memset_s function (which isn't part of the TR), or the RSIZE_MAX macro. The Microsoft implementation also doesn't treat overlapping source and destination sequences as runtime-constraint violations and instead has undefined behavior in such cases.

As a result of the numerous deviations from the specification the Microsoft implementation cannot be considered conforming or portable.

Outside of a few specific cases (of which strcpy() is one), whether Microsoft's version of Annex K's "safer" bounds-checking functions are safer is debatable. Per N1967 (bolding mine):

Suggested Technical Corrigendum

Despite more than a decade since the original proposal and nearly ten years since the ratification of ISO/IEC TR 24731-1:2007, and almost five years since the introduction of the Bounds checking interfaces into the C standard, no viable conforming implementations has emerged. The APIs continue to be controversial and requests for implementation continue to be rejected by implementers.

The design of the Bounds checking interfaces, though well-intentioned, suffers from far too many problems to correct. Using the APIs has been seen to lead to worse quality, less secure software than relying on established approaches or modern technologies. More effective and less intrusive approaches have become commonplace and are often preferred by users and security experts alike.

Therefore, we propose that Annex K be either removed from the next revision of the C standard, or deprecated and then removed.

Note, however, in the case of strcpy(), strcpy_s() is actually more akin to strncpy() as strcpy() is just a bog-standard C string function that doesn't do bounds checking, but strncpy() is a perverse function in that it will completely fill its target buffer, starting with data from the source string, and filling the entire target buffer with '\0' char values. Unless the source string fills the entire target buffer, in which case strncpy() will NOT terminate it with a '\0' char value.

I'll repeat that: strncpy() does not guarantee a properly terminated copy.

It's hard not to be "safer" than strncpy(). In this case strcpy_s() does not violate the principle of least astonishment like strncpy() does. I'd call that "safer".

But using strcpy_s() - and all the other "suggested" functions - makes your code de facto non-portable, as Microsoft is the only significant implementation of any form of Annex K's bounds-checking functions.