Re: [PATCH] perf metricgroup: Fix memory leak of metric_name in metricgroup__copy_metric_events

From: Namhyung Kim

Date: Tue Jul 14 2026 - 14:06:24 EST


Hello,

On Fri, Jul 10, 2026 at 11:22:41AM +0800, Wang Yan wrote:
> In metricgroup__copy_metric_events(), new_expr->metric_name is allocated
> via strdup() but is not freed in all error paths, leading to a memory
> leak when subsequent allocations or evsel lookups fail.
>
> Add the missing zfree() calls:
>
> - On strdup() failure, free the already allocated new_expr.
> - On metric_refs allocation failure, free metric_name before freeing
> new_expr.
> - On metric_events allocation failure, free metric_name in addition
> to existing freeing of metric_refs and new_expr.
> - On evsel lookup failure, free metric_name along with the other
> resources already freed.
>
> Fixes: b214ba8c4275 ("perf tools: Copy metric events properly when expand cgroups")
> Signed-off-by: Wang Yan <wangyan01@xxxxxxxxxx>

It's already fixed in

https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260602081104.271325-1-pengyu@xxxxxxxxxx

Thanks,
Namhyung

> ---
> tools/perf/util/metricgroup.c | 7 ++++++-
> 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git a/tools/perf/util/metricgroup.c b/tools/perf/util/metricgroup.c
> index 69bfa2a723b2..96dd780a5601 100644
> --- a/tools/perf/util/metricgroup.c
> +++ b/tools/perf/util/metricgroup.c
> @@ -1693,8 +1693,10 @@ int metricgroup__copy_metric_events(struct evlist *evlist, struct cgroup *cgrp,
> new_expr->metric_expr = old_expr->metric_expr;
> new_expr->metric_threshold = old_expr->metric_threshold;
> new_expr->metric_name = strdup(old_expr->metric_name);
> - if (!new_expr->metric_name)
> + if (!new_expr->metric_name) {
> + free(new_expr);
> return -ENOMEM;
> + }
>
> new_expr->metric_unit = old_expr->metric_unit;
> new_expr->runtime = old_expr->runtime;
> @@ -1707,6 +1709,7 @@ int metricgroup__copy_metric_events(struct evlist *evlist, struct cgroup *cgrp,
> alloc_size = sizeof(*new_expr->metric_refs);
> new_expr->metric_refs = calloc(nr + 1, alloc_size);
> if (!new_expr->metric_refs) {
> + zfree(&new_expr->metric_name);
> free(new_expr);
> return -ENOMEM;
> }
> @@ -1724,6 +1727,7 @@ int metricgroup__copy_metric_events(struct evlist *evlist, struct cgroup *cgrp,
> new_expr->metric_events = calloc(nr + 1, alloc_size);
> if (!new_expr->metric_events) {
> zfree(&new_expr->metric_refs);
> + zfree(&new_expr->metric_name);
> free(new_expr);
> return -ENOMEM;
> }
> @@ -1735,6 +1739,7 @@ int metricgroup__copy_metric_events(struct evlist *evlist, struct cgroup *cgrp,
> if (evsel == NULL) {
> zfree(&new_expr->metric_events);
> zfree(&new_expr->metric_refs);
> + zfree(&new_expr->metric_name);
> free(new_expr);
> return -EINVAL;
> }
> --
> 2.25.1
>