gh-5991: Fix segfault during finalization related to function_record (#6010)
* gh-5991: Fix segfault during finalization related to function_record
This patch was developed with assistance from Claude Code Opus 4.6
Here's Claude's explanation of the crash mechanism and some reasoning for the difficulty to repro:
`tp_dealloc_impl` calls `cpp_function::destruct` which:
1. Calls `std::free()` on function_record string members (`name`, `doc`, `signature`)
2. Calls `arg.value.dec_ref()` on default argument values
3. Calls `delete rec` on the function_record
But it never calls `PyObject_Free(self)` or `Py_DECREF(Py_TYPE(self))`, which are
required for heap types.
During `_Py_Finalize`, final GC collects the heap types (which survive module dict
clearing via `tp_mro` self-references). This triggers a massive cascade:
`type_dealloc → property_dealloc → meth_dealloc → tp_dealloc_impl → destruct`.
At scale (~1,200+ function_records), the volume of `delete`/`free` calls corrupts
heap metadata, causing subsequent `std::free()` to receive garbage pointers → SEGV.
* Add detail::py_is_finalizing() wrapper to deduplicate version-guarded #ifdef blocks
Also fixes clang-tidy readability-implicit-bool-conversion warnings.
Made-with: Cursor
---------
Co-authored-by: Ralf W. Grosse-Kunstleve <rgrossekunst@nvidia.com>
diff --git a/include/pybind11/detail/common.h b/include/pybind11/detail/common.h
index d1ab6de..5576ad1 100644
--- a/include/pybind11/detail/common.h
+++ b/include/pybind11/detail/common.h
@@ -601,6 +601,15 @@
PYBIND11_NAMESPACE_BEGIN(detail)
+// Py_IsFinalizing() is a public API since 3.13; before that use _Py_IsFinalizing().
+inline bool py_is_finalizing() {
+#if PY_VERSION_HEX >= 0x030D0000
+ return Py_IsFinalizing() != 0;
+#else
+ return _Py_IsFinalizing() != 0;
+#endif
+}
+
static constexpr int log2(size_t n, int k = 0) { return (n <= 1) ? k : log2(n >> 1, k + 1); }
// Returns the size as a multiple of sizeof(void *), rounded up.
diff --git a/include/pybind11/pybind11.h b/include/pybind11/pybind11.h
index 76d998a..454638e 100644
--- a/include/pybind11/pybind11.h
+++ b/include/pybind11/pybind11.h
@@ -846,8 +846,11 @@
std::free(const_cast<char *>(arg.descr));
}
}
- for (auto &arg : rec->args) {
- arg.value.dec_ref();
+ // During finalization, default arg values may already be freed by GC.
+ if (!detail::py_is_finalizing()) {
+ for (auto &arg : rec->args) {
+ arg.value.dec_ref();
+ }
}
if (rec->def) {
std::free(const_cast<char *>(rec->def->ml_doc));
@@ -1342,9 +1345,21 @@
// This implementation needs the definition of `class cpp_function`.
inline void tp_dealloc_impl(PyObject *self) {
+ // Skip dealloc during finalization — GC may have already freed objects
+ // reachable from the function record (e.g. default arg values), causing
+ // use-after-free in destruct().
+ if (detail::py_is_finalizing()) {
+ return;
+ }
+ // Save type before PyObject_Free invalidates self.
+ auto *type = Py_TYPE(self);
auto *py_func_rec = reinterpret_cast<function_record_PyObject *>(self);
cpp_function::destruct(py_func_rec->cpp_func_rec);
py_func_rec->cpp_func_rec = nullptr;
+ // PyObject_New increments the heap type refcount and allocates via
+ // PyObject_Malloc; balance both here
+ PyObject_Free(self);
+ Py_DECREF(type);
}
PYBIND11_NAMESPACE_END(function_record_PyTypeObject_methods)