This query finds pointer dereferences that use a pointer returned from a function which may return NULL. Always check your pointers for NULL-ness before dereferencing them. Dereferencing a null pointer and attempting to modify its contents can lead to anything from a segmentation fault to corruption of important system data (for example, the interrupt table in some architectures).

Add a null check before dereferencing the pointer, or modify the function so that it always returns a non-null value.

In this example, the function is not protected from dereferencing a null pointer. It should be updated to ensure that this cannot happen.

SEI CERT C Coding Standard: EXP34-C. Do not dereference null pointers.