Fragment of debugging and valgrind output:
D: tid=2193 main()
...
D: tid=2202 GParted_Core::set_devices_thread()
...
D: tid=2202 Utils::execute_command(command="dumpe2fs -h /dev/sda1", output, error, use_C_locale=1)
D: tid=2202 this=0x13fef4a0 PipeCapture::PipeCapture()
D: tid=2202 this=0x13fef4f0 PipeCapture::PipeCapture()
D: tid=2202 this=0x13fef4a0 PipeCapture::connect_signal()
D: sourceid=77
D: tid=2202 this=0x13fef4f0 PipeCapture::connect_signal()
D: sourceid=78
D: tid=2193 data=0x13fef4a0 PipeCapture::_OnReadable()
D: tid=2193 this=0x13fef4a0 PipeCapture::OnReadable()
D: signal_update.emit()
D: return true
D: tid=2193 data=0x13fef4f0 PipeCapture::_OnReadable()
D: tid=2193 this=0x13fef4f0 PipeCapture::OnReadable()
D: signal_update.emit()
D: return true
D: tid=2193 data=0x13fef4a0 PipeCapture::_OnReadable()
D: tid=2193 this=0x13fef4a0 PipeCapture::OnReadable()
D: signal_update.emit()
D: return true
D: tid=2193 data=0x13fef4f0 PipeCapture::_OnReadable()
D: tid=2193 this=0x13fef4f0 PipeCapture::OnReadable()
D: signal_eof.emit()
D: return false
D: (!rc) &(pc->sourceid)=0x13fef518
D: tid=2193 data=0x13fef4a0 PipeCapture::_OnReadable()
D: tid=2193 this=0x13fef4a0 PipeCapture::OnReadable()
D: signal_update.emit()
D: return true
D: tid=2193 data=0x13fef4a0 PipeCapture::_OnReadable()
D: tid=2193 this=0x13fef4a0 PipeCapture::OnReadable()
D: signal_update.emit()
D: return true
D: tid=2193 data=0x13fef4a0 PipeCapture::_OnReadable()
D: tid=2193 this=0x13fef4a0 PipeCapture::OnReadable()
D: signal_eof.emit()
D: tid=2202 this=0x13fef4f0 PipeCapture::~PipeCapture()
D: sourceid=0
D: tid=2202 this=0x13fef4a0 PipeCapture::~PipeCapture()
D: sourceid=77
D: return false
D: (!rc) &(pc->sourceid)=0x13fef4c8
==2193== Thread 1:
==2193== Invalid write of size 4
==2193== at 0x490580: GParted::PipeCapture::_OnReadable(_GIOChannel*, GIOCondition, void*) (PipeCapture.cc:56)
==2193== by 0x38662492A5: g_main_context_dispatch (gmain.c:3066)
==2193== by 0x3866249627: g_main_context_iterate.isra.24 (gmain.c:3713)
==2193== by 0x3866249A39: g_main_loop_run (gmain.c:3907)
==2193== by 0x3D7FD45C26: gtk_main (gtkmain.c:1257)
==2193== by 0x469743: GParted::GParted_Core::set_devices(std::vector<GParted::Device, std::allocator<GParted::Device> >&) (GParted_Core.cc:155)
==2193== by 0x4A78F1: GParted::Win_GParted::menu_gparted_refresh_devices() (Win_GParted.cc:1259)
==2193== by 0x4A7886: GParted::Win_GParted::on_show() (Win_GParted.cc:1253)
==2193== by 0x3D82B2009C: Gtk::Widget_Class::show_callback(_GtkWidget*) (widget.cc:3855)
==2193== by 0x3867210297: g_closure_invoke (gclosure.c:777)
==2193== by 0x3867221B86: signal_emit_unlocked_R (gsignal.c:3516)
==2193== by 0x386722A0F1: g_signal_emit_valist (gsignal.c:3330)
==2193== Address 0x13fef4c8 is not stack'd, malloc'd or (recently) free'd
==2193==
PipeCapture.cc (with debugging):
46 gboolean PipeCapture::_OnReadable( GIOChannel *source,
47 GIOCondition condition,
48 gpointer data )
49 {
50 std::cout << "D: tid=" << (long int)syscall(SYS_gettid) << " data=" << data << " PipeCapture::_OnReadable()" << std::endl;
51 PipeCapture *pc = static_cast<PipeCapture *>(data);
52 gboolean rc = pc->OnReadable( Glib::IOCondition(condition) );
53 if (!rc)
54 {
55 std::cout << "D: (!rc) &(pc->sourceid)=" << &(pc->sourceid) << std::endl;
56 pc->sourceid = 0;
57 }
58 return rc;
59 }
The use after free across threads only happens when an external program
is being executed from a thread other than the main() thread. This is
because by default glib registered callbacks are run by the glib main
loop, which is only called from the main() thread with Gtk::Main::run().
Event sequence:
tid=2193 tid=2202
main()
...
GParted_Core::set_devices()
Glib::Thread::create(... set_devices_thread ...)
Gtk::Main::run() GParted_Core::set_devices_thread()
...
Utils::execute_command("dumpe2fs ... /dev/sda1" ...)
Glib::spawn_async_with_pipes()
PipeCapture outputcapture(out, output)
outputcapture.connect_signal()
//Glib main loop runs callback
PipeCapture::_OnReadable()
pc->OnReadable()
//output read
signal_update.emit()
return true
...
//Glib main loop runs callback
PipeCapture::_OnReadable()
pc->OnReadable()
//eof reached
[1] signal_eof.emit()
return status.exit_status
[2] PipeCapture::~PipeCapture()
[3] return false
[4] pc->sourceid = 0
What is happening is that the PipeCapture destructor [2] is running in
the set_devices_thread() thread and freeing the object's memory as soon
as signal_eof.emit() [1] has been called. Then signal_eof.emit()
returns back to OnReadable() which then returns false [3] back to the
_OnReadable() callback function which then assigns 0 to sourceid member
variable [4] in the already freed object, detected by valgrind as:
Invalid write of size 4
at ... GParted::PipeCapture::_OnReadable(...) (PipeCapture.cc:56)
This is happening because PipeCapture member variable sourceid is being
saved, in a different thread, just so the _OnReadable() callback can be
removed. However a glib IOChannel callback, type GIOFunc(), returning
false will be automatically removed.
GLib Reference Manual 2.26 / IO Channels
https://developer.gnome.org/glib/2.26/glib-IO-Channels.html#GIOFunc
GIOFunc()
Returns : the function should return FALSE if the event source
should be removed
Therefore fix by just not saving the event sourceid at all, and not
calling g_source_remove() to manually remove the callback, but instead
letting glib automatically remove the callback when it returns false.
Bug #731752 - Write after free cross thread race in
PipeCapture::_OnReadable()