[PATCH v2] Fix segfault when using 'set print object on' + whatis (Re: [PATCH] Fix segfault when using 'set print object on' + whatis )

Pedro Alves
2018-01-22T17:42:12Z

Hi Sergio,

On 01/20/2018 01:03 AM, Sergio Durigan Junior wrote:
> This problem was hidden behind a "maybe-uninitialized" warning
> generated when compiling GDB with a recent GCC. The warning is:
>
> ../../gdb/typeprint.c: In function 'void whatis_exp(const char*, int)':
> ../../gdb/typeprint.c:515:12: warning: 'val' may be used uninitialized in this function [-Wmaybe-uninitialized]
> real_type = value_rtti_type (val, &full, &top, &using_enc);
> ~~~~~~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> I submitted a patch fixing this by initializing "val" to NULL, but it
> was the wrong fix, as Pedro pointed out on
> <https://sourceware.org/ml/gdb-patches/2018-01/msg00346.html>:

IMHO, adding such history to the commit log directly doesn't really
add much here. It's better IMO to leave that to "what changed in v2"
comments (that don't go in the commit log), and instead update
the commit log to go straight to the point. (please keep reading.)

>
> (gdb) set print object on
> (gdb) whatis some_structure_type
>
> Thread 1 "gdb" received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
> 0x00000000005dda90 in check_typedef (type=0x6120736573756170) at src/gdb/gdbtypes.c:2388
> 2388 int instance_flags = TYPE_INSTANCE_FLAGS (type);
> ...
>
> So I set off to find the cause of the problem. It turns out that a
> recent-ish refactoring of the code on 'whatis_exp', introduced by:
>
> commit c973d0aa4a2c737ab527ae44a617f1c357e07364
> Date: Mon Aug 21 11:34:32 2017 +0100
>
> Fix type casts losing typedefs and reimplement "whatis" typedef stripping
>
> was the reason of the failure. After investigating what 'set print
> object on' was supposed to do to the output of 'whatis', if made sense
> initialize "val = evaluate_type (expr.get ());" all the time, not only
> when we're dealing with the 'ptype' command.

The point of the c973d0aa4a2c change was to bypass evaluating the
expression if the opcode is OP_TYPE. The proposed patch adds back
the evaluation, while the OP_TYPE shortcut is left in there too. I
think calling allocate_value instead in the path that misses
initializing 'val' would make more sense, to end up with a dummy
not_lval value, like expression evaluation does when evaluating
EVAL_AVOID_SIDE_EFFECTS. But even better still is to set VAL to NULL
in this case (only), and skip the "real type" printing. It doesn't make
any sense to try to fetch the dynamic type of a type that didn't come
from an actual program value in the first place. There's nothing
dynamic about a statically named type.

>
> I've regtested this on the BuildBot, without seeing any regressions.
> I've also extended 'gdb.base/whatis.exp' to check if the segfault is
> not there anymore.

The "whatis struct" case was an example, but there's another similar
path in the code that also lead to a crash that is not covered by the
testcase. The value_rtti_indirect_type path here:

if (opts.objectprint)
{
if (((TYPE_CODE (type) == TYPE_CODE_PTR) || TYPE_IS_REFERENCE (type))
&& (TYPE_CODE (TYPE_TARGET_TYPE (type)) == TYPE_CODE_STRUCT))
real_type = value_rtti_indirect_type (val, &full, &top, &using_enc);
else if (TYPE_CODE (type) == TYPE_CODE_STRUCT)
real_type = value_rtti_type (val, &full, &top, &using_enc);
}

> --- a/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/whatis.exp
> +++ b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/whatis.exp
> @@ -566,3 +566,10 @@ gdb_test "whatis int (*)(void, int, int)" \
> gdb_test "whatis int (*)(int, void, int)" \
> "'void' invalid as parameter type" \
> "whatis applied to function with 'void' parameter type"
> +
> +# Test that 'set print object on' + whatis doesn't segfault.
> +clean_restart $binfile
> +gdb_test_no_output "set print object on"
> +gdb_test "whatis v_struct1" \
> + "type = struct t_struct" \
> + "whatis + set print object on doesn't segfault"

At some point later on someone is going to read this test
name/message and wonder why is it talking about a segfault.
All the other 50k+ tests in the testsuite are indirectly checking
that gdb doesn't segfault either. This one's not that special
in that regard. Instead, we're testing that the
"set print object on" + "whatis <struct>" combination _works_ as
expected, which among other things obviously includes
not segfaulting, but also includes checking that the output
is reasonable.

As I was writing/experimenting the above, I ended up addressing
my own comments. What do you think of this patch instead?

New in v2:

- set val to NULL and skip dynamic type printing in the "whatis <type>"
case.
- rewrite the new tests to reuse preexisting tests, and add new tests
for whatis with pointers and references to structs coupled with
"set print object on". Try both "set print object on/off".

From f86b4087d23be4cf20bf3dc2f8407cef3f28830d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sergio Durigan Junior <sergiodj@redhat.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2018 17:33:13 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Fix segfault when using 'set print object on' + whatis
<struct>

Compiling GDB with a recent GCC exposes a problem:

../../gdb/typeprint.c: In function 'void whatis_exp(const char*, int)':
../../gdb/typeprint.c:515:12: warning: 'val' may be used uninitialized in this function [-Wmaybe-uninitialized]
real_type = value_rtti_type (val, &full, &top, &using_enc);
~~~~~~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The warning is correct. There are indeed code paths that use
uninitialized 'val', leading to crashes. Inside the
value_rtti_indirect_type/value_rtti_type calls here in whatis_exp:

if (opts.objectprint)
{
if (((TYPE_CODE (type) == TYPE_CODE_PTR) || TYPE_IS_REFERENCE (type))
&& (TYPE_CODE (TYPE_TARGET_TYPE (type)) == TYPE_CODE_STRUCT))
real_type = value_rtti_indirect_type (val, &full, &top, &using_enc);
else if (TYPE_CODE (type) == TYPE_CODE_STRUCT)
real_type = value_rtti_type (val, &full, &top, &using_enc);
}

We reach those calls above with "set print object on", and then with
any of:

(gdb) whatis struct some_structure_type
(gdb) whatis struct some_structure_type *
(gdb) whatis struct some_structure_type &

because "whatis" with a type argument enters this branch:

/* The behavior of "whatis" depends on whether the user
expression names a type directly, or a language expression
(including variable names). If the former, then "whatis"
strips one level of typedefs, only. If an expression,
"whatis" prints the type of the expression without stripping
any typedef level. "ptype" always strips all levels of
typedefs. */
if (show == -1 && expr->elts[0].opcode == OP_TYPE)
{

which does not initialize VAL. Trying the above lead to crashes like
this:

(gdb) set print object on
(gdb) whatis some_structure_type

Thread 1 "gdb" received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
0x00000000005dda90 in check_typedef (type=0x6120736573756170) at src/gdb/gdbtypes.c:2388
2388 int instance_flags = TYPE_INSTANCE_FLAGS (type);
...

This is a regression caused by a recent-ish refactoring of the code on
'whatis_exp', introduced by:

commit c973d0aa4a2c737ab527ae44a617f1c357e07364
Date: Mon Aug 21 11:34:32 2017 +0100

Fix type casts losing typedefs and reimplement "whatis" typedef stripping

Fix this by setting VAL to NULL in the "whatis TYPE" case, and
skipping fetching the dynamic type if there's no value to fetch it
from.

New tests included.

gdb/ChangeLog:
yyyy-mm-dd Sergio Durigan Junior <sergiodj@redhat.com>
Pedro Alves <palves@redhat.com>

* typeprint.c (whatis_exp): Initialize "val" in the "whatis type"
case.

gdb/testsuite/ChangeLog:
yyyy-mm-dd Sergio Durigan Junior <sergiodj@redhat.com>
Pedro Alves <palves@redhat.com>

* gdb.base/whatis.exp: Add tests for 'set print object on' +
'whatis <struct>' 'whatis <struct> *' and 'whatis <struct> &'.
---
gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/whatis.exp | 25 +++++++++++++++++++++----
gdb/typeprint.c | 6 +++++-
2 files changed, 26 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/whatis.exp b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/whatis.exp
index dd6aeb02f91..509183e2ea4 100644
--- a/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/whatis.exp
+++ b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.base/whatis.exp
@@ -282,14 +282,31 @@ gdb_test "whatis v_double_pointer" \

# test whatis command with structure types
+
+# First with a type argument, with both "set print object" set to "on"
+# and "off", ending with "off" for the following tests.
+foreach_with_prefix print_object {"on" "off"} {
+ gdb_test_no_output "set print object $print_object"
+
+ gdb_test "whatis struct t_struct" \
+ "type = struct t_struct" \
+ "whatis named structure using type name"
+
+ gdb_test "whatis struct t_struct *" \
+ "type = struct t_struct \\*" \
+ "whatis named structure using type name and pointer"
+
+ gdb_test "whatis struct t_struct &" \
+ "type = struct t_struct &" \
+ "whatis named structure using type name and reference"
+}
+
+# Now with an expression argument.
+
gdb_test "whatis v_struct1" \
"type = struct t_struct" \
"whatis named structure"

-gdb_test "whatis struct t_struct" \
- "type = struct t_struct" \
- "whatis named structure using type name"
-
gdb_test "whatis v_struct2" \
"type = struct \{\.\.\.\}" \
"whatis unnamed structure"
diff --git a/gdb/typeprint.c b/gdb/typeprint.c
index 9a125076a1b..c098a3f4261 100644
--- a/gdb/typeprint.c
+++ b/gdb/typeprint.c
@@ -489,6 +489,10 @@ whatis_exp (const char *exp, int show)
check_typedef (type);
if (TYPE_CODE (type) == TYPE_CODE_TYPEDEF)
type = TYPE_TARGET_TYPE (type);
+
+ /* If the expression is actually a type, then there's no
+ value to fetch the dynamic type from. */
+ val = NULL;
}
else
{
@@ -506,7 +510,7 @@ whatis_exp (const char *exp, int show)
}

get_user_print_options (&opts);
- if (opts.objectprint)
+ if (val != NULL && opts.objectprint)
{
if (((TYPE_CODE (type) == TYPE_CODE_PTR) || TYPE_IS_REFERENCE (type))
&& (TYPE_CODE (TYPE_TARGET_TYPE (type)) == TYPE_CODE_STRUCT))
--
2.14.3