554551 - Profiler (vprof.cpp) does not check for NULL return from malloc calls

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Tamarin Graveyard :: Tools, defect)

Description

[William Maddox]

Unlike C++ new, malloc does not throw an exception.  NULL values can be returned and subsequently dereferenced.  This issue was identified by inspection, and no actual failure has been observed.

Comment 1

[Lars T Hansen]

BTW we turn off exceptions on all platforms, but we should not be relying on NULL returns anywhere except:

 - when calling VMPI_alloc directly
 - when calling FixedMalloc::PleaseAlloc or passing the kCanFail flag to
   various allocator routines
 - when calling the system 'new' operator directly rather than through the
   mmfx_new macros

Comment 2

[Felix S. Klock II [:pnkfelix, :fklock]]

Conversation with Lars indicates that vprof.cpp probably should not be invoking malloc but rather its VMPI_ equivalent, VMPI_alloc.

Comment 3

[Felix S. Klock II [:pnkfelix, :fklock]]

So, I can do the trivial text replacement of malloc with VMPI_alloc, but that is not going to resolve the issue that wmaddox is raising: the code in question still won't attempt to deal with null returns from the allocation routine.

So what should response to allocation failure be?  Sudden death?  Or abandonment of the gathered profiler information?

Also, is vprof data a user-visible feature?  (I infer not, based on the simplicity of the utility.)  Therefore I am not sure this /needs/ to go into 10.1 ...

Comment 4

[Lars T Hansen]

(In reply to comment #3)
> Also, is vprof data a user-visible feature?  (I infer not, based on the
> simplicity of the utility.)  Therefore I am not sure this /needs/ to go into
> 10.1 ...

Yeah, I was surprised this was targeted for 10.1 too.  Check with Ed.

Comment 5

[Dan Smith]

Retargeting to Future.

Comment 6

[Sylvestre Ledru [:Sylvestre]]

Tamarin is a dead project now. Mass WONTFIX.

Comment 7

[Sylvestre Ledru [:Sylvestre]]

Tamarin isn't maintained anymore. WONTFIX remaining bugs.