apache / apache/arrow-java

Calling `retain` on a closed ArrowBuf revives it, into an undefined state

Open
#906 8 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
Type: bug
Dominant language
Java
Stars
94
Forks
152
Avg merge
3d 16h
Merged PRs (30d)
11

Description

### Describe the bug, including details regarding any error messages, version, and platform.

```kotlin
@Test
fun testArrowBufRetainBug() {
RootAllocator().use { al ->
val buf = al.buffer(10)
buf.close()

// correctly throws
assertThrows { buf.referenceManager.retain() }

assertEquals(0, buf.refCnt()) // nope, it's 1

// doesn't throw, ref-count is 1 - so the caller assumes they've successfully taken a reference
// but the underlying memory has already been reclaimed and re-used
assertThrows { buf.referenceManager.retain() }
}
}
```

Caused by the `getAndAdd` in `BufferLedger.retain(int)` - this is what leaves the ref-count positive, so on the next call, this doesn't fail.

Some kind of compareAndSet instead, perhaps?

Cheers,

James

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start at BufferLedger.retain(int), where the issue identifies getAndAdd as the source of the incorrect positive reference count. Run the provided testArrowBufRetainBug reproduction and verify that closing the buffer leaves refCnt() at 0 and that subsequent retain() calls still throw IllegalArgumentException.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java
Domain
backend
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Clearly specified
Newbie friendliness
52/100

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