Hacktoberfest 2026: the issues maintainers tagged for October, open and beginner-friendly. Browse Hacktoberfest issues

False Positive: IterableIterator.ql reports classes whose `hasNext()` still reliably disables iteration.

Open
#21,550 1 comment 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

Assessment

Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Newbie friendliness
55/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Quiet
Tech stack
java

Research direction

Start with the Language Abuse/IterableIterator.ql checker and the affected NegCase6_Var2.java and NegCase6_Var4.java test cases. Trace how hasNext() is recognized when it returns false through a helper or constant, then update the checker tests so these cases are no longer reported while the unsafe self-iterable cases remain covered.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

False Positive: IterableIterator.ql reports classes whose hasNext() still reliably disables iteration.

Version
codeql 2.24.3

Checker

  • Checker id: Language Abuse/IterableIterator.ql
  • Checker description: This checker detects classes that implement Iterable by returning themselves as the Iterator but lack a guard to prevent multiple concurrent iterations.

Description of the false positive

These classes do return this from iterator(), but hasNext() still deterministically returns false, which is exactly the built-in guard that keeps iteration from proceeding. The refactoring only changes how that false result is computed.

Affected test cases

NegCase6_Var2.java

hasNext() still disables reuse of the iterator instance in practice, so this should not be reported as an unsafe self-iterable.

// A concrete class that implements Iterable, returns "this" in iterator(), and has hasNext() returning false should not be flagged.
package scensct.var.neg;

import java.util.Iterator;

public class NegCase6_Var2 implements Iterable<Double>, Iterator<Double> { // [REPORTED LINE]
    
    public Iterator<Double> iterator() {
        return this;
    }
    
    private boolean neverHasNext() {
        return false;
    }
    
    public boolean hasNext() {
        return neverHasNext();
    }
    
    public Double next() {
        return 0.0;
    }
}
NegCase6_Var4.java

The iteration guard is still present even though the control flow is slightly different.

// A concrete class that implements Iterable, returns "this" in iterator(), and has hasNext() returning false should not be flagged.
package scensct.var.neg;

import java.util.Iterator;

public class NegCase6_Var4 implements Iterable<Double>, Iterator<Double> { // [REPORTED LINE]
    private final boolean NO_MORE = false;
    
    public Iterator<Double> iterator() {
        return this;
    }
    
    public boolean hasNext() {
        for (int i = 0; i < 1; i++) {
            // loop does nothing
        }
        return NO_MORE;
    }
    
    public Double next() {
        return 0.0;
    }
}

Cause analysis

The query appears too literal about what counts as a valid guard. Once hasNext() returns false via a helper or a constant field instead of a bare literal, the class is still reported.

That is overly rigid. The safety property here is semantic: iteration is disabled, regardless of whether false is returned directly or indirectly.

References

None known.

Dominant language
CodeQL
Stars
10.1k
Forks
2.1k
Avg merge
2d 16h
Merged PRs (30d)
143

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

More from github/codeql

All issues in github/codeql

Similar issues

More Security issues

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.