[PATCH 07/17] Regex: Additional memory management checks.

[Paul Eggert]

On 12/08/2017 01:16 AM in
<https://sourceware.org/ml/libc-alpha/2017-12/msg00242.html> Arnold

+ /* some malloc()-checkers don't like zero allocations */
+ if (preg->re_nsub > 0)
dfa->subexp_map = re_malloc (int, preg->re_nsub);
+ else
+ dfa->subexp_map = NULL;

Which checkers are these? Can they be told that 'malloc (0)' is OK?
Since the code here is fine (i.e. it will work even if 'malloc (0)'
succeeds and returns NULL) it may be better to leave the code alone and
to fix the checkers instead.

+ * ADR: valgrind says size can be 0, which then doesn't
+ * free the block of size 0. Harumph. This seems
+ * to work ok, though.
+ */
+ if (size == 0)
+ {
+ memset(set, 0, sizeof(*set));
+ return REG_NOERROR;
+ }
set->alloc = size;
set->nelem = 0;
set->elems = re_malloc (int, size);

For this, how about if we use the corresponding Gnulib fix instead? An
advantage of the Gnulib fix is that it doesn't introduce runtime
overhead when glibc is used. Here is a URL:

https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/gnulib.git/commit/?id=bbf0d723ed2335add96bcc0f842885d8a5d8b6da

diff --git a/posix/regexec.c b/posix/regexec.c
index 2d2bc46..8573765 100644
--- a/posix/regexec.c
+++ b/posix/regexec.c
@@ -605,7 +605,7 @@ re_search_internal (const regex_t *preg, const char *string, int length,
nmatch -= extra_nmatch;
/* Check if the DFA haven't been compiled. */
- if (BE (preg->used == 0 || dfa->init_state == NULL
+ if (BE (preg->used == 0 || dfa == NULL || dfa->init_state == NULL
|| dfa->init_state_word == NULL || dfa->init_state_nl == NULL
|| dfa->init_state_begbuf == NULL, 0))
return REG_NOMATCH;

Why is this change needed? I couldn't see a code path that would trigger
it. Obviously I'm missing something. I suggest mentioning the reason in
the comment.

[a***@skeeve.com]

Hi Paul.

Post by Paul Eggert
On 12/08/2017 01:16 AM in
<https://sourceware.org/ml/libc-alpha/2017-12/msg00242.html> Arnold

+ /* some malloc()-checkers don't like zero allocations */

Which checkers are these?

Lord only knows. That change has been in gawk's regex for years and

Post by Paul Eggert
Can they be told that 'malloc (0)' is OK?

Practically speaking, no.

Post by Paul Eggert

+ * ADR: valgrind says size can be 0, which then doesn't
+ * free the block of size 0. Harumph. This seems
+ * to work ok, though.
+ */
+ if (size == 0)
+ {
+ memset(set, 0, sizeof(*set));
+ return REG_NOERROR;
+ }
set->alloc = size;
set->nelem = 0;
set->elems = re_malloc (int, size);

For this, how about if we use the corresponding Gnulib fix instead? An
advantage of the Gnulib fix is that it doesn't introduce runtime

I think that the runtime overhead is so small that it cannot be
measured. I don't want to pull in more gnulib m4 goop for this.
The GLIBC guys can do as they wish, of course. :-)

Post by Paul Eggert

diff --git a/posix/regexec.c b/posix/regexec.c
index 2d2bc46..8573765 100644
--- a/posix/regexec.c
+++ b/posix/regexec.c
@@ -605,7 +605,7 @@ re_search_internal (const regex_t *preg, const char *string, int length,
nmatch -= extra_nmatch;
/* Check if the DFA haven't been compiled. */
- if (BE (preg->used == 0 || dfa->init_state == NULL
+ if (BE (preg->used == 0 || dfa == NULL || dfa->init_state == NULL
|| dfa->init_state_word == NULL || dfa->init_state_nl == NULL
|| dfa->init_state_begbuf == NULL, 0))
return REG_NOMATCH;

Why is this change needed? I couldn't see a code path that would trigger
it.

I managed once while doing some changes to cause dfa to be NULL. So
I added the check. I don't remember what I did.

Thanks,

Arnold