nodejs / nodejs/node

Worker with large inline source map aborts process in V8 HandleDebugMagicComments

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v8 engine
Dominant language
JavaScript
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Description

Version

v26.4.0

Platform
macOS 15.x arm64
Subsystem

worker_threads

What steps will reproduce the bug?

Create a worker entry file with a small amount of executable JavaScript and a very large inline sourceMappingURL=data:... comment, then load it in a worker with a constrained heap.

Minimal repro:

const fs = require("node:fs");
const os = require("node:os");
const path = require("node:path");
const { Worker } = require("node:worker_threads");

const dir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "node-inline-sourcemap-oom-"));

const workerPath = path.join(dir, "worker.cjs");

const source = [
  'const { parentPort } = require("node:worker_threads");',
  'parentPort.postMessage("loaded");',
  'parentPort.close();',
  "",
  "//# sourceMappingURL=data:application/json;base64,",
  "A".repeat(64 * 1024 * 1024),
  "",
].join("\n");

fs.writeFileSync(workerPath, source);

const worker = new Worker(workerPath, {
  resourceLimits: {
    maxOldGenerationSizeMb: 16,
  },
});

worker.on("message", console.log);

worker.on("error", console.error);

worker.on("exit", (code) => {
  console.log("exit", code);
  fs.rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
});

Run: node repro.js

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

It reproduces consistently when the inline sourcemap comment is large enough relative to the worker heap limit.

For comparison, these do not reproduce the same fatal abort:

  1. Keeping the same large payload in an external worker.cjs.map file and using //# sourceMappingURL=worker.cjs.map.
  2. Putting a similarly large payload in a normal non-sourceMappingURL comment.
What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?

The worker should fail gracefully, for example by emitting an error event or exiting with a worker failure, without aborting the entire Node.js process.

Ideally, parsing sourceMappingURL / debug magic comments should not internalize an arbitrarily large data URL into V8 old space during module compilation.

What do you see instead?

The whole Node process aborts with an out-of-memory fatal error before the worker can load the module.

Example stack from Node v26.4.0:

FATAL ERROR: CALL_AND_RETRY_LAST Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory
...
v8::internal::FactoryBase<v8::internal::Factory>::AllocateRawOneByteInternalizedString
v8::internal::FactoryBase<v8::internal::Factory>::NewOneByteInternalizedString
v8::internal::StringTable::LookupKey
v8::internal::FactoryBase<v8::internal::Factory>::InternalizeString
void v8::internal::Parser::HandleDebugMagicComments
v8::internal::Parser::ParseProgram
v8::internal::parsing::ParseProgram
v8::internal::Compiler::GetWrappedFunction
v8::ScriptCompiler::CompileFunction
node::contextify::CompileFunctionForCJSLoader
node::worker::Worker::Run
Additional information

No response

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 with the supplied repro.js and the stack through V8's Parser::HandleDebugMagicComments, then compare inline and external source maps under the worker heap limit. Trace the worker entry through node::worker::Worker::Run and identify where the fatal allocation occurs. Done means the repro no longer aborts the Node.js process and the worker reports failure gracefully.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript
Domain
backend
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
42/100

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