Node.js v24.2.0 Segmentation Fault on WSL2

Version

v24.2.0

Platform

Linux DESKTOP-QV82TM5 5.15.167.4-microsoft-standard-WSL2 #1 SMP Tue Nov 5 00:21:55 UTC 2024 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Subsystem

No response

What steps will reproduce the bug?

Install v24.2.0

nvm install v24.2.0
nvm use v24.2.0

Basic commands that trigger segfault

node --version # Segmentation fault
npm --version # Segmentation fault

How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?

[svnbjrn@DESKTOP-QV82TM5 W15]$ node -v
Segmentation fault

What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?

[svnbjrn@DESKTOP-QV82TM5 W15]$ node -v
v24.1.0

What do you see instead?

[svnbjrn@DESKTOP-QV82TM5 W15]$ node -v
Segmentation fault

Additional information

As you can probably tell the following was absolutely written by Claude:

Node.js v24.2.0 Segmentation Fault on WSL2

Summary

Node.js v24.2.0 consistently crashes with segmentation faults on WSL2 + Arch Linux, while v24.1.0 works perfectly.

Environment

• OS: Arch Linux on WSL2
• Kernel: 5.15.167.4-microsoft-standard-WSL2
• Node.js versions tested:
  • v24.1.0: ✅ Works fine
  • v24.2.0: ❌ Segfaults consistently
  • v22.16.0 (LTS): ✅ Works fine

Reproduction

# Install v24.2.0
nvm install v24.2.0
nvm use v24.2.0

# Basic commands that trigger segfault
node --version    # Segmentation fault
npm --version     # Segmentation fault

Crash Details

Jun 12 09:34:50 DESKTOP-QV82TM5 kernel: potentially unexpected fatal signal 11.
Jun 12 09:34:50 DESKTOP-QV82TM5 kernel: CPU: 12 PID: 16666 Comm: node Not tainted 5.15.167.4-microsoft-standard-WSL2 #1
Jun 12 09:34:50 DESKTOP-QV82TM5 kernel: RIP: 0033:0x7ff67b041bcb
Jun 12 09:34:50 DESKTOP-QV82TM5 kernel: Code: Unable to access opcode bytes at RIP 0x7ff67b041ba1.
Jun 12 09:34:50 DESKTOP-QV82TM5 kernel: RAX: fffffffffffffff2 RBX: 0000562e10ab6740 RCX: 00007ff67b041bcb

Suspected Root Cause

Based on the v24.2.0 changelog, likely candidates:

1. libuv update to 1.51.0 (most likely) - handles system calls where WSL2 translation could fail
2. V8 cherry-pick 249de887a8d3 - engine-level memory management changes
3. nghttp2 update to 1.65.0 - less likely but possible

Additional Info

• Affects both basic startup (node --version) and any Node.js execution
• Issue is specific to WSL2 environment
• Same binary works on native Linux systems
• Regression introduced between v24.1.0 and v24.2.0

Workaround

Use Node.js v24.1.0 or LTS versions until fixed.

Start by reproducing the crash with node --version on WSL2 using v24.2.0, then compare it with v24.1.0 and v22.16.0. Investigate the v24.2.0 changes involving libuv 1.51.0, the listed V8 cherry-pick, and nghttp2 1.65.0. Done means Node starts successfully on the reported WSL2 environment without a segmentation fault.