Understanding the C function call prolog with __cdecl on windows

Question

Compiling this simple function with MSVC2008, in Debug mode:

int __cdecl sum(int a, int b)
{
    return a + b;
}

I get the following disassembly listing:

int __cdecl sum(int a, int b)
{
004113B0  push        ebp  
004113B1  mov         ebp,esp 
004113B3  sub         esp,0C0h 
004113B9  push        ebx  
004113BA  push        esi  
004113BB  push        edi  
004113BC  lea         edi,[ebp-0C0h] 
004113C2  mov         ecx,30h 
004113C7  mov         eax,0CCCCCCCCh 
004113CC  rep stos    dword ptr es:[edi] 
    return a + b;
004113CE  mov         eax,dword ptr [a] 
004113D1  add         eax,dword ptr [b] 
}
004113D4  pop         edi  
004113D5  pop         esi  
004113D6  pop         ebx  
004113D7  mov         esp,ebp 
004113D9  pop         ebp  
004113DA  ret

There are some parts of the prolog I don't understand:

004113BC  lea         edi,[ebp-0C0h] 
004113C2  mov         ecx,30h 
004113C7  mov         eax,0CCCCCCCCh 
004113CC  rep stos    dword ptr es:[edi] 

Why is this required?

---

EDIT:

After removing the /RTC compiler option, as was suggested, most of this code indeed went away. What remained is:

int __cdecl sum(int a, int b)
{
00411270  push        ebp  
00411271  mov         ebp,esp 
00411273  sub         esp,40h 
00411276  push        ebx  
00411277  push        esi  
00411278  push        edi  
    return a + b;
00411279  mov         eax,dword ptr [a] 
0041127C  add         eax,dword ptr [b] 
}

Now, why is the: sub esp, 40h needed? It's as if place is being allocated for local variables, though there aren't any. Why is the compiler doing this? Is there another flag involved?

Answer 1

This code is emitted due to the /RTC compile option. It initializes all local variables in your function to a bit pattern that is highly likely to generate an access violation or to cause unusual output values. That helps you find out when you forgot to initialize a variable.

---

The extra space in the stack frame you see allocated is there to support the Edit + Continue feature. This space will be used when you edit the function while debugging and add more local variables. Change the /ZI option to /Zi to disable it.

Answer 2

and in any case of buffer overflow (if you would overwrite local variables) you will end up in a field of "int 3" opcodes:

int 3 ; 0xCC
int 3 ; 0xCC
int 3 ; 0xCC
int 3 ; 0xCC
int 3 ; 0xCC
int 3 ; 0xCC
...

that can be catched by the debugger, so you can fix your code