[rtla 01/13] rtla: Check for memory allocation failures

From: Wander Lairson Costa
Date: Mon Nov 17 2025 - 13:58:17 EST


The actions_init() and actions_new() functions did not check the
return value of calloc() and realloc() respectively. In a low
memory situation, this could lead to a NULL pointer dereference.

Add checks for the return value of memory allocation functions
and return an error in case of failure. Update the callers to
handle the error properly.

Signed-off-by: Wander Lairson Costa <wander@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
tools/tracing/rtla/src/actions.c | 26 +++++++++++++++++++++++---
tools/tracing/rtla/src/actions.h | 2 +-
tools/tracing/rtla/src/timerlat_hist.c | 7 +++++--
tools/tracing/rtla/src/timerlat_top.c | 7 +++++--
4 files changed, 34 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/tracing/rtla/src/actions.c b/tools/tracing/rtla/src/actions.c
index 8945aee58d511..01648a1425c10 100644
--- a/tools/tracing/rtla/src/actions.c
+++ b/tools/tracing/rtla/src/actions.c
@@ -11,11 +11,13 @@
/*
* actions_init - initialize struct actions
*/
-void
+int
actions_init(struct actions *self)
{
self->size = action_default_size;
self->list = calloc(self->size, sizeof(struct action));
+ if (!self->list)
+ return -1;
self->len = 0;
self->continue_flag = false;

@@ -23,6 +25,7 @@ actions_init(struct actions *self)

/* This has to be set by the user */
self->trace_output_inst = NULL;
+ return 0;
}

/*
@@ -50,8 +53,13 @@ static struct action *
actions_new(struct actions *self)
{
if (self->len >= self->size) {
- self->size *= 2;
- self->list = realloc(self->list, self->size * sizeof(struct action));
+ const size_t new_size = self->size * 2;
+ void *p = reallocarray(self->list, new_size, sizeof(struct action));
+
+ if (!p)
+ return NULL;
+ self->list = p;
+ self->size = new_size;
}

return &self->list[self->len++];
@@ -65,6 +73,9 @@ actions_add_trace_output(struct actions *self, const char *trace_output)
{
struct action *action = actions_new(self);

+ if (!action)
+ return -1;
+
self->present[ACTION_TRACE_OUTPUT] = true;
action->type = ACTION_TRACE_OUTPUT;
action->trace_output = calloc(strlen(trace_output) + 1, sizeof(char));
@@ -83,6 +94,9 @@ actions_add_signal(struct actions *self, int signal, int pid)
{
struct action *action = actions_new(self);

+ if (!action)
+ return -1;
+
self->present[ACTION_SIGNAL] = true;
action->type = ACTION_SIGNAL;
action->signal = signal;
@@ -99,6 +113,9 @@ actions_add_shell(struct actions *self, const char *command)
{
struct action *action = actions_new(self);

+ if (!action)
+ return -1;
+
self->present[ACTION_SHELL] = true;
action->type = ACTION_SHELL;
action->command = calloc(strlen(command) + 1, sizeof(char));
@@ -117,6 +134,9 @@ actions_add_continue(struct actions *self)
{
struct action *action = actions_new(self);

+ if (!action)
+ return -1;
+
self->present[ACTION_CONTINUE] = true;
action->type = ACTION_CONTINUE;

diff --git a/tools/tracing/rtla/src/actions.h b/tools/tracing/rtla/src/actions.h
index a4f9b570775b5..439bcc58ac93a 100644
--- a/tools/tracing/rtla/src/actions.h
+++ b/tools/tracing/rtla/src/actions.h
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ struct actions {
struct tracefs_instance *trace_output_inst;
};

-void actions_init(struct actions *self);
+int actions_init(struct actions *self);
void actions_destroy(struct actions *self);
int actions_add_trace_output(struct actions *self, const char *trace_output);
int actions_add_signal(struct actions *self, int signal, int pid);
diff --git a/tools/tracing/rtla/src/timerlat_hist.c b/tools/tracing/rtla/src/timerlat_hist.c
index 606c1688057b2..09a3da3f58630 100644
--- a/tools/tracing/rtla/src/timerlat_hist.c
+++ b/tools/tracing/rtla/src/timerlat_hist.c
@@ -798,8 +798,11 @@ static struct common_params
if (!params)
exit(1);

- actions_init(&params->common.threshold_actions);
- actions_init(&params->common.end_actions);
+ if (actions_init(&params->common.threshold_actions) ||
+ actions_init(&params->common.end_actions)) {
+ err_msg("Error initializing actions");
+ exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+ }

/* disabled by default */
params->dma_latency = -1;
diff --git a/tools/tracing/rtla/src/timerlat_top.c b/tools/tracing/rtla/src/timerlat_top.c
index fc479a0dcb597..7679820e72db5 100644
--- a/tools/tracing/rtla/src/timerlat_top.c
+++ b/tools/tracing/rtla/src/timerlat_top.c
@@ -556,8 +556,11 @@ static struct common_params
if (!params)
exit(1);

- actions_init(&params->common.threshold_actions);
- actions_init(&params->common.end_actions);
+ if (actions_init(&params->common.threshold_actions) ||
+ actions_init(&params->common.end_actions)) {
+ err_msg("Error initializing actions");
+ exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+ }

/* disabled by default */
params->dma_latency = -1;
--
2.51.1