xml.sax expatreader: entity stack not cleaned up after error in external_entity_ref()
Nobody has claimed this yet.
- Dominant language
- Python
- Stars
- 77.2k
- Forks
- 35.9k
- PR merge metrics
- PR metrics pending
Description
Follow-up from gh-148427 / PR #148435.
In ExpatParser.external_entity_ref() (Lib/xml/sax/expatreader.py), when an exception occurs during external entity parsing, the _entity_stack cleanup (restoring self._parser and self._source) is skipped because except Exception: return 0 exits the method before reaching lines 430–431:
try:
xmlreader.IncrementalParser.parse(self, source)
except Exception:
return 0 # exits here, cleanup below never runs
(self._parser, self._source) = self._entity_stack[-1] # skipped
del self._entity_stack[-1] # skipped
return 1
After an error, self._parser still points to the sub-parser for the external entity, self._source points to the entity's input source, and the original parser/source pair is stuck in _entity_stack.
In practice this probably doesn't matter much since the parser is usually abandoned after a SAXParseException, but it's still a state corruption if someone tries to reuse the parser or inspect its state after catching the exception.
A finally clause would fix this, but that was intentionally kept out of gh-148427 to keep the scope minimal.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by reading ExpatParser.external_entity_ref() in Lib/xml/sax/expatreader.py and the related gh-148427 / PR #148435 context. Done means an exception during external entity parsing no longer leaves self._parser, self._source, or _entity_stack in the corrupted state described.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- backend
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 2/5
- Estimated time
- 1-3 hours
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Clearly specified
- Newbie friendliness
- 74/100