A27-0-1 Unclear scope of the rule

[cgpzs]

Hi,

Rule A27-0-1 says:

Rule A27-0-1 (required, implementation, non-automated)
Inputs from independent components shall be validated.

This is very abstract and vague:

* What is the definition of "independent components"?
* Validated, in what context? When doing what?

The rule is in the section "Input/output library", and the code examples of this rule only talk about string manipulation/formatting functions. Can we therefore assume that this rule is only concerned with validating input passed to string manipulation/formatting functions?

Thanks!