git/list[1] front-page[2] threads[3] people[4] search[5] about
 

[PATCH 16/26] help: fix leaking return value from `help_unknown_cmd()`

From
Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date
Nov 6, 2024, 15:11 UTC
Message-ID
<ea8677ff965711ebca140f130c62c704e0ab0753.1730901926.git.ps@pks.im>
In-Reply-To
<cover.1730901926.git.ps@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 | 11 +++++------
 help.h |  2 +-
 3 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
diff --git a/git.c b/git.c
index 159dd45b082..46b3c740c5d 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 51adc530d7a..0290aba9f38 100644
--- a/help.c
+++ b/help.c
@@ -612,14 +612,14 @@ 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;
 	struct cmdnames main_cmds = { 0 };
 	struct cmdnames other_cmds = { 0 };
 	struct cmdname_help *common_cmds;
-	const char *assumed = NULL;
+	char *assumed = NULL;
 
 	read_early_config(the_repository, git_unknown_cmd_config, &cfg);
 
@@ -696,9 +696,8 @@ const char *help_unknown_cmd(const char *cmd)
 			; /* still counting */
 	}
 	if (cfg.autocorrect && n == 1 && SIMILAR_ENOUGH(best_similarity)) {
-		assumed = main_cmds.names[0]->name;
-		main_cmds.names[0] = NULL;
-		cmdnames_release(&main_cmds);
+		assumed = xstrdup(main_cmds.names[0]->name);
+
 		fprintf_ln(stderr,
 			   _("WARNING: You called a Git command named '%s', "
 			     "which does not exist."),
@@ -716,7 +715,7 @@ const char *help_unknown_cmd(const char *cmd)
 			strbuf_release(&msg);
 			if (!(starts_with(answer, "y") ||
 			      starts_with(answer, "Y"))) {
-				assumed = NULL;
+				FREE_AND_NULL(assumed);
 				goto out;
 			}
 		} else {
diff --git a/help.h b/help.h
index e716ee27ea1..67207b3073c 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 23 of 39 in “Memory leak fixes (pt.10, final)”
  1. 00/26 Memory leak fixes (pt.10, final)Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  2. 01/26 builtin/blame: fix leaking blame entries with `--incremental`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  3. 02/26 bisect: fix leaking good/bad terms when reading multipe timesPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  4. 03/26 bisect: fix leaking string in `handle_bad_merge_base()`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  5. 04/26 bisect: fix leaking `current_bad_oid`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  6. 05/26 bisect: fix multiple leaks in `bisect_next_all()`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  7. 06/26 bisect: fix leaking commit list items in `check_merge_base()`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  8. 07/26 bisect: fix various cases where we leak commit list itemsPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  9. 08/26 line-log: fix leak when rewriting commit parentsPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  10. 09/26 strvec: introduce new `strvec_splice()` functionPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  11. Rubén JustoNov 10, 2024
  12. Patrick SteinhardtNov 11, 2024
  13. 10/26 git: refactor alias handling to use a `struct strvec`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  14. Rubén JustoNov 10, 2024
  15. 11/26 git: refactor builtin handling to use a `struct strvec`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  16. 12/26 split-index: fix memory leak in `move_cache_to_base_index()`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  17. Rubén JustoNov 10, 2024
  18. 13/26 builtin/sparse-checkout: fix leaking sanitized patternsPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  19. 14/26 help: refactor to not use globals for reading configPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  20. 15/26 help: fix leaking `struct cmdnames`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  21. Rubén JustoNov 10, 2024
  22. Patrick SteinhardtNov 11, 2024
  23. 16/26 help: fix leaking return value from `help_unknown_cmd()`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  24. 17/26 builtin/help: fix leaks in `check_git_cmd()`Patrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  25. 18/26 builtin/init-db: fix leaking directory pathsPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  26. Rubén JustoNov 10, 2024
  27. 19/26 builtin/branch: fix leaking sorting optionsPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  28. Rubén JustoNov 10, 2024
  29. 20/26 t/helper: fix leaking commit graph in "read-graph" subcommandPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  30. 21/26 git-compat-util: drop `UNLEAK()` annotationPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  31. Rubén JustoNov 10, 2024
  32. Patrick SteinhardtNov 11, 2024
  33. 22/26 t5601: work around leak sanitizer issuePatrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  34. 23/26 t: mark some tests as leak freePatrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  35. 24/26 t: remove unneeded !SANITIZE_LEAK prerequisitesPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  36. 25/26 test-lib: unconditionally enable leak checkingPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  37. 26/26 t: remove TEST_PASSES_SANITIZE_LEAK annotationsPatrick Steinhardt, Nov 6, 2024
  38. Rubén JustoNov 10, 2024
  39. Patrick SteinhardtNov 11, 2024

Read the whole thread, see it on lore, or plain text.

$ cat FOOTERMessages come from the public archive at lore.kernel.org/git, fetched every hour. The front page is chosen and written each morning by an AI editor and can be wrong; the threads themselves are the record. About and API. For agents: an MCP server at https://gitlist.dev/mcp, and any thread, story or person page as Markdown by adding .md to its URL (or sending Accept: text/markdown). Details in /llms.txt.