C6101

warning C6101: Returning uninitialized memory

A successful path through the function does not set the named _Out_ parameter. This message is generated based on SAL annotations that indicate that the function in question always succeeds. A function that doesn’t return a success/failure indication should set all of its _Out_ parameters because the analyzer assumes that the _Out_ parameter is uninitialized data before the function is called, and that the function will set the parameter so that it’s no longer uninitialized. If the function does indicate success/failure, then the _Out_ parameter doesn't have to be set in the case of failure, and you can detect and avoid the uninitialized ___location. In either case, the objective is to avoid the reading of an uninitialized ___location. If the function sometimes doesn’t touch an _Out_ parameter that’s subsequently used, then the parameter should be initialized before the function call and be marked with the _Inout_ annotation, or the more explicit _Pre_null_ or _Pre_satisfies_() when appropriate. "Partial success" can be handled with the _When_ annotation. For more information, see Using SAL Annotations to Reduce C/C++ Code Defects.