[PATCH 08/13] perf sched: Replace (void*)1 sentinel with proper runtime allocation
From: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo
Date: Fri Jun 12 2026 - 18:25:53 EST
From: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@xxxxxxxxxx>
map__findnew_thread() marks color-pid threads by storing (void*)1 as
the thread private data via thread__set_priv(). This sentinel value
causes two problems:
1. thread__get_runtime() returns (void*)1 as a struct thread_runtime
pointer. Any field access (e.g. tr->shortname) dereferences address
1, which is an unmapped page — immediate segfault.
2. cmd_sched() registers free() as the thread priv destructor, so thread
cleanup calls free((void*)1) — undefined behavior that corrupts the
heap on many allocators.
Fix by adding a 'color' flag to struct thread_runtime and allocating a
real runtime struct for color-pid threads. thread__has_color() now
checks the flag instead of relying on priv being non-NULL.
Reported-by: sashiko-bot <sashiko-bot@xxxxxxxxxx>
Fixes: 58a606149c60d5da ("perf sched: Avoid union type punning undefined behavior")
Cc: Ian Rogers <irogers@xxxxxxxxxx>
Assisted-by: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
tools/perf/builtin-sched.c | 23 +++++++++++++++++------
1 file changed, 17 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-sched.c b/tools/perf/builtin-sched.c
index 5f16caebd9645da0..7fd63a9db4574fbf 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-sched.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-sched.c
@@ -274,6 +274,7 @@ struct thread_runtime {
u64 migrations;
int prio;
+ bool color;
};
/* per event run time data */
@@ -1589,22 +1590,32 @@ static int process_sched_wakeup_ignore(const struct perf_tool *tool __maybe_unus
static bool thread__has_color(struct thread *thread)
{
- return thread__priv(thread) != NULL;
+ struct thread_runtime *tr = thread__priv(thread);
+
+ return tr != NULL && tr->color;
}
static struct thread*
map__findnew_thread(struct perf_sched *sched, struct machine *machine, pid_t pid, pid_t tid)
{
struct thread *thread = machine__findnew_thread(machine, pid, tid);
- bool color = false;
- if (!sched->map.color_pids || !thread || thread__priv(thread))
+ if (!sched->map.color_pids || !thread)
return thread;
- if (thread_map__has(sched->map.color_pids, tid))
- color = true;
+ /*
+ * Always check the color-pids map, even if thread__priv() is
+ * already set. COMM events processed before the first sched_switch
+ * allocate a thread_runtime via thread__get_runtime(), so priv is
+ * non-NULL before we ever get here. Skipping the check on non-NULL
+ * priv would prevent those threads from being colored.
+ */
+ if (thread_map__has(sched->map.color_pids, tid)) {
+ struct thread_runtime *tr = thread__get_runtime(thread);
- thread__set_priv(thread, color ? ((void*)1) : NULL);
+ if (tr)
+ tr->color = true;
+ }
return thread;
}
--
2.54.0