Dead code due to goto or break statement¶

ID: cpp/dead-code-goto
Kind: problem
Security severity: 
Severity: warning
Precision: high
Tags:
   - maintainability
   - external/cwe/cwe-561
Query suites:
   - cpp-security-and-quality.qls

Click to see the query in the CodeQL repository

Code immediately following a goto or break statement will not be executed, unless there is a label or switch case. When the code is necessary, this leads to logical errors or resource leaks. If the code is unnecessary, it may confuse readers.

goto err1;
free(pointer); // BAD: this line is unreachable
err1: return -1;

free(pointer); // GOOD: this line is reachable
goto err2;
err2: return -1;