[PATCH v1] perf stat: Avoid uninitialized memory read on error
From: Ian Rogers
Date: Tue Sep 08 2026 - 18:26:49 EST
If has_supported_counters fails then msg was passed to ui__error
regardless of whether an error was written into msg leading to reading
uninitialized memory. Avoid this by always terminating msg at
initialization.
Opportunistically reduce the scope of msg to make its use clearer.
Fixes: c9a8c343ef2f ("perf stat: When no events, don't report an error if there is none")
Signed-off-by: Ian Rogers <irogers@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
tools/perf/builtin-stat.c | 4 +++-
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
index c50cf230f16e..37752d6bfef4 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
@@ -777,7 +777,6 @@ static int __run_perf_stat(int argc, const char **argv, int run_idx)
int interval = stat_config.interval;
int times = stat_config.times;
int timeout = stat_config.timeout;
- char msg[BUFSIZ];
unsigned long long t0, t1;
struct evsel *counter;
size_t l;
@@ -908,6 +907,9 @@ static int __run_perf_stat(int argc, const char **argv, int run_idx)
}
}
if (!has_supported_counters && !stat_config.null_run) {
+ char msg[BUFSIZ];
+
+ msg[0] = '\0';
if (open_err) {
evsel__open_strerror(evlist__first(evsel_list), &target, open_err,
msg, sizeof(msg));
--
2.55.0.979.g7e5102b832-goog