path: root/lib/libc/stdlib/malloc.3

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.\"	$OpenBSD: malloc.3,v 1.87 2014/12/08 20:42:23 tedu Exp $
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.Dd $Mdocdate: December 8 2014 $
.Dt MALLOC 3
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm malloc ,
.Nm calloc ,
.Nm reallocarray ,
.Nm realloc ,
.Nm free ,
.Nd memory allocation and deallocation
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In stdlib.h
.Ft void *
.Fn malloc "size_t size"
.Ft void *
.Fn calloc "size_t nmemb" "size_t size"
.Ft void *
.Fn reallocarray "void *ptr" "size_t nmemb" "size_t size"
.Ft void *
.Fn realloc "void *ptr" "size_t size"
.Ft void
.Fn free "void *ptr"
.Ft char * Ns
.Va malloc_options ;
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Fn malloc
function allocates uninitialized space for an object of
the specified
.Fa size .
.Fn malloc
maintains multiple lists of free blocks according to size, allocating
space from the appropriate list.
The allocated space is suitably aligned (after possible pointer coercion) for
storage of any type of object.
If the space is of
.Em pagesize
or larger, the memory returned will be page-aligned.
.Pp
The
.Fn calloc
function allocates space for an array of
.Fa nmemb
objects, each of the specified
.Fa size .
The space is initialized to zero.
.Pp
The
.Fn realloc
function changes the size of the object pointed to by
.Fa ptr
to
.Fa size
bytes and returns a pointer to the (possibly moved) object.
The contents of the object are unchanged up to the lesser
of the new and old sizes.
If the new size is larger, the value of the newly allocated portion
of the object is indeterminate and uninitialized.
If the space cannot be allocated, the object
pointed to by
.Fa ptr
is unchanged.
If
.Fa ptr
is
.Dv NULL ,
.Fn realloc
behaves like
.Fn malloc
and allocates a new object.
.Pp
The
.Fn reallocarray
function is similar to
.Fn realloc
except it operates on
.Fa nmemb
members of size
.Fa size
and checks for integer overflow in the calculation
.Fa nmemb
*
.Fa size .
.Pp
The
.Fn free
function causes the space pointed to by
.Fa ptr
to be either placed on a list of free pages to make it available for future
allocation or, if required, to be returned to the kernel using
.Xr munmap 2 .
If
.Fa ptr
is a
.Dv NULL
pointer, no action occurs.
If
.Fa ptr
was previously freed by
.Fn free
.Fn realloc ,
or
.Fn reallocarray ,
the behavior is undefined and the double free is a security concern.
.Sh RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion, the functions
.Fn malloc ,
.Fn calloc ,
.Fn realloc ,
and
.Fn reallocarray
return a pointer to the allocated space; otherwise, a
.Dv NULL
pointer is returned and
.Va errno
is set to
.Er ENOMEM .
.Pp
If
.Fa size
or
.Fa nmemb
is equal to 0, a unique pointer to an access protected,
zero sized object is returned.
Access via this pointer will generate a
.Dv SIGSEGV
exception.
.Pp
If multiplying
.Fa nmemb
and
.Fa size
results in integer overflow,
.Fn calloc
and
.Fn reallocarray
return
.Dv NULL
and set
.Va errno
to
.Er ENOMEM .
.Pp
The
.Fn free
function returns no value.
.Sh IDIOMS
Consider
.Fn calloc
or the extension
.Fn reallocarray
when there is multiplication in the
.Fa size
argument of
.Fn malloc
or
.Fn realloc .
For example, avoid this common idiom as it may lead to integer overflow:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
if ((p = malloc(num * size)) == NULL)
	err(1, "malloc");
.Ed
.Pp
A drop-in replacement is the
.Ox
extension
.Fn reallocarray :
.Bd -literal -offset indent
if ((p = reallocarray(NULL, num, size)) == NULL)
	err(1, "reallocarray");
.Ed
.Pp
Alternatively,
.Fn calloc
may be used at the cost of initialization overhead.
.Pp
When using
.Fn realloc ,
be careful to avoid the following idiom:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
size += 50;
if ((p = realloc(p, size)) == NULL)
	return (NULL);
.Ed
.Pp
Do not adjust the variable describing how much memory has been allocated
until the allocation has been successful.
This can cause aberrant program behavior if the incorrect size value is used.
In most cases, the above sample will also result in a leak of memory.
As stated earlier, a return value of
.Dv NULL
indicates that the old object still remains allocated.
Better code looks like this:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
newsize = size + 50;
if ((newp = realloc(p, newsize)) == NULL) {
	free(p);
	p = NULL;
	size = 0;
	return (NULL);
}
p = newp;
size = newsize;
.Ed
.Pp
As with
.Fn malloc ,
it is important to ensure the new size value will not overflow;
i.e. avoid allocations like the following:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
if ((newp = realloc(p, num * size)) == NULL) {
	...
.Ed
.Pp
Instead, use
.Fn reallocarray :
.Bd -literal -offset indent
if ((newp = reallocarray(p, num, size)) == NULL) {
	...
.Ed
.Pp
Calling
.Fn realloc
with a
.Dv NULL
.Fa ptr
is equivalent to calling
.Fn malloc .
Instead of this idiom:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
if (p == NULL)
	newp = malloc(newsize);
else
	newp = realloc(p, newsize);
.Ed
.Pp
Use the following:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
newp = realloc(p, newsize);
.Ed
.Sh ENVIRONMENT
.Bl -tag -width "/etc/malloc.conf"
.It Ev MALLOC_OPTIONS
String of flags documented in
.Xr malloc.conf 5 .
.El
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width "/etc/malloc.conf"
.It Pa /etc/malloc.conf
Symbolic link to filename containing option flags.
.El
.Sh EXAMPLES
If
.Fn malloc
must be used with multiplication, be sure to test for overflow:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
size_t num, size;
\&...

/* Check for size_t overflow */
if (size && num > SIZE_MAX / size)
	errc(1, EOVERFLOW, "overflow");

if ((p = malloc(size * num)) == NULL)
	err(1, "malloc");
.Ed
.Pp
The above test is not sufficient in all cases.
For example, multiplying ints requires a different set of checks:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
int num, size;
\&...

/* Avoid invalid requests */
if (size < 0 || num < 0)
	errc(1, EOVERFLOW, "overflow");

/* Check for signed int overflow */
if (size && num > INT_MAX / size)
	errc(1, EOVERFLOW, "overflow");

if ((p = malloc(size * num)) == NULL)
	err(1, "malloc");
.Ed
.Pp
Assuming the implementation checks for integer overflow as
.Ox
does, it is much easier to use
.Fn calloc
or
.Fn reallocarray .
.Pp
The above examples could be simplified to:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
if ((p = reallocarray(NULL, num, size)) == NULL)
	err(1, "reallocarray");
.Ed
.Pp
or at the cost of initialization:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
if ((p = calloc(num, size)) == NULL)
	err(1, "calloc");
.Ed
.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
If
.Fn malloc ,
.Fn calloc ,
.Fn realloc ,
.Fn reallocarray ,
or
.Fn free
detect an error condition,
a message will be printed to file descriptor
2 (not using stdio).
Errors will result in the process being aborted,
unless the
.Cm a
option has been specified.
.Pp
Here is a brief description of the error messages and what they mean:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Dq out of memory
If the
.Cm X
option is specified it is an error for
.Fn malloc ,
.Fn calloc ,
.Fn realloc ,
or
.Fn reallocarray
to return
.Dv NULL .
.It Dq malloc init mmap failed
This is a rather weird condition that is most likely to indicate a
seriously overloaded system or a ulimit restriction.
.It Dq bogus pointer (double free?)
An attempt to
.Fn free ,
.Fn realloc ,
or
.Fn reallocarray
an unallocated pointer was made.
.It Dq chunk is already free
There was an attempt to free a chunk that had already been freed.
.It Dq modified chunk-pointer
The pointer passed to
.Fn free ,
.Fn realloc ,
or
.Fn reallocarray
has been modified.
.It Dq recursive call
An attempt was made to call recursively into these functions, i.e., from a
signal handler.
This behavior is not supported.
In particular, signal handlers should
.Em not
use any of the
.Fn malloc
functions nor utilize any other functions which may call
.Fn malloc
(e.g.,
.Xr stdio 3
routines).
.It Dq unknown char in MALLOC_OPTIONS
We found something we didn't understand.
.It Dq malloc cache overflow/underflow
The internal malloc page cache has been corrupted.
.It Dq malloc free slot lost
The internal malloc page cache has been corrupted.
.It Dq guard size
An inconsistent guard size was detected.
.It any other error
.Fn malloc
detected an internal error;
consult sources and/or wizards.
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr brk 2 ,
.Xr mmap 2 ,
.Xr munmap 2 ,
.Xr alloca 3 ,
.Xr getpagesize 3 ,
.Xr posix_memalign 3 ,
.Xr sysconf 3 ,
.Xr malloc.conf 5
.Sh STANDARDS
The
.Fn malloc ,
.Fn calloc ,
.Fn realloc ,
and
.Fn free
functions conform to
.St -ansiC .
.Pp
If
.Fa size
or
.Fa nmemb
are 0, the return value is implementation defined;
other conforming implementations may return
.Dv NULL
in this case.
.Pp
The standard does not require
.Fn calloc
to check for integer overflow,
but most modern implementations provide this check.
.Pp
The
.Ev MALLOC_OPTIONS
environment variable, the file
.Pa /etc/malloc.conf ,
and the
.Sx DIAGNOSTICS
output are extensions to the standard.
.Sh HISTORY
A
.Fn free
internal kernel function and a predecessor to
.Fn malloc ,
.Fn alloc ,
first appeared in
.At v1 .
C library functions
.Fn alloc
and
.Fn free
appeared in
.At v6 .
The functions
.Fn malloc ,
.Fn calloc ,
and
.Fn realloc
first appeared in
.At v7 .
.Pp
A new implementation by Chris Kingsley was introduced in
.Bx 4.2 ,
followed by a complete rewrite by Poul-Henning Kamp which appeared in
.Fx 2.2
and was included in
.Ox 2.0 .
These implementations were all
.Xr sbrk 2
based.
In
.Ox 3.8 ,
Thierry Deval rewrote
.Nm
to use the
.Xr mmap 2
system call,
making the page addresses returned by
.Nm
random.
A rewrite by Otto Moerbeek introducing a new central data structure and more
randomization appeared in
.Ox 4.4 .
.Pp
The
.Fn reallocarray
function appeared in
.Ox 5.6 .
.Sh CAVEATS
When using
.Fn malloc ,
be wary of signed integer and
.Vt size_t
overflow especially when there is multiplication in the
.Fa size
argument.
.Pp
Signed integer overflow will cause undefined behavior which compilers
typically handle by wrapping back around to negative numbers.
Depending on the input, this can result in allocating more or less
memory than intended.
.Pp
An unsigned overflow has defined behavior which will wrap back around and
return less memory than intended.
.Pp
A signed or unsigned integer overflow is a
.Em security
risk if less memory is returned than intended.
Subsequent code may corrupt the heap by writing beyond the memory that was
allocated.
An attacker may be able to leverage this heap corruption to execute arbitrary
code.
.Pp
Consider using
.Fn calloc
or
.Fn reallocarray
instead of using multiplication in
.Fn malloc
and
.Fn realloc
to avoid these problems on
.Ox .