Exception thrown in destructor¶

ID: cpp/throw-in-destructor
Kind: problem
Security severity: 
Severity: warning
Precision: very-high
Tags:
   - reliability
   - readability
   - language-features
Query suites:
   - cpp-security-and-quality.qls

Click to see the query in the CodeQL repository

This rule finds exceptions thrown in destructors. This is dangerous: If the destructor is called during stack unwinding as part of the handling of another exception, throwing an additional exception will immediately terminate the program as per the C++ specification.

Recommendation¶

Handle the error condition in a different way.

Example¶

class C {
public:
	//...
	~C(){
		if (error) {
			throw "Exception in destructor"; //wrong: exception thrown in destructor
		}
	}
};

void f() {
	C* c = new C();
	try {
		doOperation(c);
		delete c;
	} catch ( char * do_operation_exception) {
		delete c; //would immediately terminate program if C::~C throws an exception
	}
}

References¶

M. Cline, C++ FAQ: How can I handle a destructor that fails?
B. Stroustrup. The C++ Programming Language Special Edition p 380. Addison Wesley. 2000.

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