multiprocessing.shared_memory: failed attach unlinks another process's block
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Description
Bug report
Bug description
SharedMemory.__init__ calls self.unlink() from its OSError cleanup handler:
try:
if create and size:
os.ftruncate(self._fd, size)
stats = os.fstat(self._fd)
size = stats.st_size
self._mmap = mmap.mmap(self._fd, size)
except OSError:
self.unlink()
raise
This runs unconditionally, including on the attach path (create=False).
unlink() calls shm_unlink(), which permanently destroys the named block.
So if mmap() fails while attaching to a block created by another process
(e.g. ENOMEM under memory pressure), the failing attach destroys another
owner's live shared memory block.
Reproduction (simulating an mmap failure during attach):
from unittest import mock
from multiprocessing import shared_memory
owner = shared_memory.SharedMemory(create=True, size=1024)
try:
with mock.patch("multiprocessing.shared_memory.mmap.mmap",
side_effect=OSError("ENOMEM")):
shared_memory.SharedMemory(owner.name) # attach
except OSError:
pass
shared_memory.SharedMemory(owner.name) # FileNotFoundError: block destroyed
Secondary issue: resource_tracker.register() runs after this try/except, so
on the create=True path the block is not yet registered. unlink() still
calls resource_tracker.unregister(), so the resource_tracker does
cache[rtype].remove(name) on an unknown name → KeyError printed as a
traceback, with the tracker's exit code set to 3.
Expected behavior
A failed attach must not unlink a block it does not own. On error the fd should
just be closed; the block should be unlinked only when it was created in this
call, and without a spurious unregister for a never-registered block.
Your environment
- CPython main (3.16.0a0); also affects earlier versions
- Linux / POSIX shared memory (
_USE_POSIX)
Linked PRs
- gh-153280
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 at multiprocessing.shared_memory.SharedMemory.init and reproduce the attach failure with the mock shown in the issue. Check the cleanup and resource-tracker behavior for both attach and create paths. Done means a failed attach leaves the existing block usable and does not produce a spurious tracker error; the issue includes linked PR gh-153280.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- operating-systems
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 25/100