handsontable / handsontable/hyperformula

Array functions: missing max dimension guard causes OOM crash

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API Bug Impact: Medium
Dominant language
TypeScript
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Forks
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

Severity: Critical

Array-producing functions have no upper bound on output dimensions. Formulas like =SEQUENCE(999999999) or =SEQUENCE("1e308") pass all validation checks and attempt to allocate massive arrays, causing an out-of-memory crash with no error returned.

Reproduction

const hf = HyperFormula.buildFromArray([['=SEQUENCE(999999999)']], { licenseKey: 'gpl-v3' })
// OOM crash — no error returned, process killed

Also crashes: =SEQUENCE("1e308") (string coerces to finite 1e308, passes isFinite check).

Expected behavior

Should return an error. Excel returns #VALUE! when dimensions exceed sheet limits (1048576 rows, 16384 columns).

Affected scope

  • SequencePlugin — no max dimension check in isValidDimension or sequenceArraySize
  • Potentially any function with sizeOfResultArrayMethod that accepts user-controlled dimensions

Suggested fix

Add max dimension validation, e.g. derived from Config.maxRows / Config.maxColumns:

private static isValidDimension(n: number): boolean {
  return Number.isFinite(n) && n >= SequencePlugin.MIN_DIMENSION && n <= MAX_SAFE_DIMENSION
}

Found during SEQUENCE implementation (PR #1645).

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start in SequencePlugin, especially isValidDimension and sequenceArraySize, and inspect Config.maxRows and Config.maxColumns for the applicable limits. Then review other functions using sizeOfResultArrayMethod; done means oversized or coerced dimensions return an error instead of attempting an OOM-producing allocation.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
typescript
Domain
performance
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
58/100

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