Setting a number inside a struct causes timer to misbehave

Question

The following code:

struct l{
    uint8_t pin;
    uint8_t sensePin;
    float brightnessTarget;
    uint8_t PWMvalue;
    uint8_t inc;
};
typedef struct l led;

led* redLed;
led* whiteLed;
unsigned long secondsOfDay = 79140;
unsigned long minutesOfDay = 0;
unsigned int hoursOfDay = 0;
uint8_t interrupted=0;
uint8_t runPID;
int pin13=0;

void setup() {
  cli();
  TCCR1A = 0;// set entire TCCR1A register to 0
  TCCR1B = 0;// same for TCCR1B
  TCNT1  = 0;//initialize counter value to 0
  // set compare match register for 1hz increments
  OCR1A = OCR1A_val;// = (16*10^6) / (1*1024) - 1 (must be <65536)
  // turn on CTC mode
  TCCR1B |= (1 << WGM12);
  // Set CS10 and CS12 bits for 1024 prescaler
  TCCR1B |= (1 << CS12) | (1 << CS10);  
  // enable timer compare interrupt
  TIMSK1 |= (1 << OCIE1A);
  pinMode(13,OUTPUT);
  pinMode(3, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(4, OUTPUT);
  sei();
}

void loop() {
  if (runPID){
    PIControl(redLed);
    PIControl(whiteLed);
    pin13 = (~pin13 & 1);
    digitalWrite(13, pin13);
    runPID=0;
  }
}


SIGNAL(TIMER1_COMPA_vect){ //1 second timer fire
  runPID = 1;
}

Toggles a pin. However, if I add:

redLed->pin = 3;
whiteLed->pin = 4;  
redLed->sensePin = 0;
whiteLed->sensePin = 1;

In the setup anywhere (before cli(), after sei(), or within the block), the interrupt no longer toggles.

I'm absolutely baffled, and I have no idea what's going on.

Edit: everything but whiteLed->sensePin is fine. That line is what is causing the issue (and I still don't understand)

Answer 1

This:

led* redLed;

defines a global variable implicitly initialized to zero (i.e. a NULL pointer). This is an invalid pointer you are not allowed to use until you properly initialize it.

Here:

redLed->pin = 3;

you are writing to the memory pointed to by this invalid pointer. This invokes what the C and C++ standards call undefined behavior. What that means is that, according to the definition of the C++ language, the behavior of your program is not defined. In other words, anything can happen. Typically you get a program crash, but even that behavior is not guaranteed.

Do not ever access memory through an invalid pointer.