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[PATCH v2 16/27] help: fix leaking return value from `help_unknown_cmd()`

From
Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date
Nov 11, 2024, 10:38 UTC
Message-ID
<20241111-b4-pks-leak-fixes-pt10-v2-16-6154bf91f0b0@pks.im>
In-Reply-To
<20241111-b4-pks-leak-fixes-pt10-v2-0-6154bf91f0b0@pks.im>

While `help_unknown_cmd()` would usually die on an unknown command, it instead returns an autocorrected command when "help.autocorrect" is set. But while the function is declared to return a string constant, it actually returns an allocated string in that case. Callers thus aren't aware that they have to free the string, leading to a memory leak.

Fix the function return type to be non-constant and free the returned value at its only callsite.

Note that we cannot simply take ownership of `main_cmds.names[0]->name` and then eventually free it. This is because the `struct cmdname` is using a flex array to allocate the name, so the name pointer points into the middle of the structure and thus cannot be freed.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
---
 git.c  | 4 +++-
 help.c | 7 +++----
 help.h | 2 +-
 3 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
diff --git a/git.c b/git.c
index 159dd45b08204c4a89d1dc4ab6990978e2454eb6..46b3c740c5d665388917c6eee3052cc3ef8368f2 100644
--- a/git.c
+++ b/git.c
@@ -961,7 +961,9 @@ int cmd_main(int argc, const char **argv)
 			exit(1);
 		}
 		if (!done_help) {
-			strvec_replace(&args, 0, help_unknown_cmd(cmd));
+			char *assumed = help_unknown_cmd(cmd);
+			strvec_replace(&args, 0, assumed);
+			free(assumed);
 			cmd = args.v[0];
 			done_help = 1;
 		} else {
diff --git a/help.c b/help.c
index 8b56cd6e25ba5f2be2cbf2a7a9ed48136e12a0c7..8a830ba35c6fd1377213e2ed40846f3d46dba363 100644
--- a/help.c
+++ b/help.c
@@ -612,7 +612,7 @@ static const char bad_interpreter_advice[] =
 	N_("'%s' appears to be a git command, but we were not\n"
 	"able to execute it. Maybe git-%s is broken?");
 
-const char *help_unknown_cmd(const char *cmd)
+char *help_unknown_cmd(const char *cmd)
 {
 	struct help_unknown_cmd_config cfg = { 0 };
 	int i, n, best_similarity = 0;
@@ -695,9 +695,8 @@ const char *help_unknown_cmd(const char *cmd)
 			; /* still counting */
 	}
 	if (cfg.autocorrect && n == 1 && SIMILAR_ENOUGH(best_similarity)) {
-		const char *assumed = main_cmds.names[0]->name;
-		main_cmds.names[0] = NULL;
-		cmdnames_release(&main_cmds);
+		char *assumed = xstrdup(main_cmds.names[0]->name);
+
 		fprintf_ln(stderr,
 			   _("WARNING: You called a Git command named '%s', "
 			     "which does not exist."),
diff --git a/help.h b/help.h
index e716ee27ea174c4dfc3b941619bf361972894212..67207b3073ce48fa25f67f9a4922abc4e2ce7926 100644
--- a/help.h
+++ b/help.h
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ void list_all_other_cmds(struct string_list *list);
 void list_cmds_by_category(struct string_list *list,
 			   const char *category);
 void list_cmds_by_config(struct string_list *list);
-const char *help_unknown_cmd(const char *cmd);
+char *help_unknown_cmd(const char *cmd);
 void load_command_list(const char *prefix,
 		       struct cmdnames *main_cmds,
 		       struct cmdnames *other_cmds);
-- 
2.47.0.229.g8f8d6eee53.dirty
Previous: Patrick SteinhardtNext: Patrick Steinhardt
Message 27 of 45 in “Memory leak fixes (pt.10, final)”
  1. 00/27 Memory leak fixes (pt.10, final)Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  2. 01/27 builtin/blame: fix leaking blame entries with `--incremental`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  3. 02/27 bisect: fix leaking good/bad terms when reading multipe timesPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  4. 03/27 bisect: fix leaking string in `handle_bad_merge_base()`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  5. 04/27 bisect: fix leaking `current_bad_oid`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  6. 05/27 bisect: fix multiple leaks in `bisect_next_all()`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  7. 06/27 bisect: fix leaking commit list items in `check_merge_base()`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  8. 07/27 bisect: fix various cases where we leak commit list itemsPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  9. Toon ClaesNov 20, 2024
  10. Patrick SteinhardtNov 20, 2024
  11. 08/27 line-log: fix leak when rewriting commit parentsPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  12. 09/27 strvec: introduce new `strvec_splice()` functionPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  13. Toon ClaesNov 20, 2024
  14. Patrick SteinhardtNov 20, 2024
  15. Junio C HamanoNov 20, 2024
  16. Jeff KingNov 21, 2024
  17. Jeff KingNov 21, 2024
  18. Doxygen-styled comments [was: Re: [PATCH v2 09/27] strvec: introduce new `strvec_splice()` function]Toon Claes, Nov 21, 2024
  19. Jeff KingNov 21, 2024
  20. 10/27 git: refactor alias handling to use a `struct strvec`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  21. 11/27 git: refactor builtin handling to use a `struct strvec`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  22. Toon ClaesNov 20, 2024
  23. 12/27 split-index: fix memory leak in `move_cache_to_base_index()`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  24. 13/27 builtin/sparse-checkout: fix leaking sanitized patternsPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  25. 14/27 help: refactor to not use globals for reading configPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  26. 15/27 help: fix leaking `struct cmdnames`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  27. 16/27 help: fix leaking return value from `help_unknown_cmd()`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  28. 17/27 builtin/help: fix leaks in `check_git_cmd()`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  29. 18/27 builtin/init-db: fix leaking directory pathsPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  30. 19/27 builtin/branch: fix leaking sorting optionsPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  31. 20/27 t/helper: fix leaking commit graph in "read-graph" subcommandPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  32. 21/27 global: drop `UNLEAK()` annotationPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  33. Jeff KingNov 12, 2024
  34. Patrick SteinhardtNov 12, 2024
  35. Jeff KingNov 12, 2024
  36. 22/27 git-compat-util: drop now-unused `UNLEAK()` macroPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  37. 23/27 t5601: work around leak sanitizer issuePatrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  38. 24/27 t: mark some tests as leak freePatrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  39. 25/27 t: remove unneeded !SANITIZE_LEAK prerequisitesPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  40. 26/27 test-lib: unconditionally enable leak checkingPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  41. 27/27 t: remove TEST_PASSES_SANITIZE_LEAK annotationsPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 11, 2024
  42. Toon ClaesNov 20, 2024
  43. Patrick SteinhardtNov 20, 2024
  44. Rubén JustoNov 11, 2024
  45. Rubén JustoNov 12, 2024

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