Error: free(): invalid next size (fast):

Question

What is this strange error I'm getting? I'm compiling C++ using g++ on Ubuntu 10.10. It pops up randomly when I run the executable (maybe 2 times in 8 hours, with 10 compiles an hour). However, if I make clean and recompile it goes away most of the time.

*** glibc detected *** ./emailQueue.app: free(): invalid next size (fast): 0x0000000001c40270 ***
======= Backtrace: =========
/lib/libc.so.6(+0x774b6)[0x7f490d95e4b6]
/lib/libc.so.6(cfree+0x73)[0x7f490d964c83]
./emailQueue.app[0x401f47]
/lib/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xfe)[0x7f490d905d8e]
./emailQueue.app[0x401cc9]
======= Memory map: ========
00400000-0040d000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 1311132                            /home/server/Projects/email/emailQueue.app
0060d000-0060e000 r--p 0000d000 08:01 1311132                            /home/server/Projects/email/emailQueue.app
0060e000-0060f000 rw-p 0000e000 08:01 1311132                            /home/server/Projects/email/emailQueue.app
01c40000-01c82000 rw-p 00000000 00:00 0                                  [heap]
7f4908000000-7f4908021000 rw-p 00000000 00:00 0 
7f4908021000-7f490c000000 ---p 00000000 00:00 0 
7f490ce52000-7f490ce5e000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 1051251                    /lib/libnss_files-2.12.1.so
7f490ce5e000-7f490d05d000 ---p 0000c000 08:01 1051251                    /lib/libnss_files-2.12.1.so
7f490d05d000-7f490d05e000 r--p 0000b000 08:01 1051251                    /lib/libnss_files-2.12.1.so
7f490d05e000-7f490d05f000 rw-p 0000c000 08:01 1051251                    /lib/libnss_files-2.12.1.so
7f490d05f000-7f490d075000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 1048770                    /lib/libz.so.1.2.3.4
7f490d075000-7f490d275000 ---p 00016000 08:01 1048770                    /lib/libz.so.1.2.3.4
7f490d275000-7f490d276000 r--p 00016000 08:01 1048770                    /lib/libz.so.1.2.3.4
7f490d276000-7f490d277000 rw-p 00017000 08:01 1048770                    /lib/libz.so.1.2.3.4
7f490d277000-7f490d28e000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 1051248                    /lib/libnsl-2.12.1.so
7f490d28e000-7f490d48d000 ---p 00017000 08:01 1051248                    /lib/libnsl-2.12.1.so
7f490d48d000-7f490d48e000 r--p 00016000 08:01 1051248                    /lib/libnsl-2.12.1.so
7f490d48e000-7f490d48f000 rw-p 00017000 08:01 1051248                    /lib/libnsl-2.12.1.so
7f490d48f000-7f490d491000 rw-p 00000000 00:00 0 
7f490d491000-7f490d49a000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 1051244                    /lib/libcrypt-2.12.1.so
7f490d49a000-7f490d69a000 ---p 00009000 08:01 1051244                    /lib/libcrypt-2.12.1.so
7f490d69a000-7f490d69b000 r--p 00009000 08:01 1051244                    /lib/libcrypt-2.12.1.so
7f490d69b000-7f490d69c000 rw-p 0000a000 08:01 1051244                    /lib/libcrypt-2.12.1.so
7f490d69c000-7f490d6ca000 rw-p 00000000 00:00 0 
7f490d6ca000-7f490d6e2000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 1051256                    /lib/libpthread-2.12.1.so
7f490d6e2000-7f490d8e1000 ---p 00018000 08:01 1051256                    /lib/libpthread-2.12.1.so
7f490d8e1000-7f490d8e2000 r--p 00017000 08:01 1051256                    /lib/libpthread-2.12.1.so
7f490d8e2000-7f490d8e3000 rw-p 00018000 08:01 1051256                    /lib/libpthread-2.12.1.so
7f490d8e3000-7f490d8e7000 rw-p 00000000 00:00 0 
7f490d8e7000-7f490da61000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 1048743                    /lib/libc-2.12.1.so
7f490da61000-7f490dc60000 ---p 0017a000 08:01 1048743                    /lib/libc-2.12.1.so
7f490dc60000-7f490dc64000 r--p 00179000 08:01 1048743                    /lib/libc-2.12.1.so
7f490dc64000-7f490dc65000 rw-p 0017d000 08:01 1048743                    /lib/libc-2.12.1.so
7f490dc65000-7f490dc6a000 rw-p 00000000 00:00 0 
7f490dc6a000-7f490dc7f000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 1048655                    /lib/libgcc_s.so.1
7f490dc7f000-7f490de7e000 ---p 00015000 08:01 1048655                    /lib/libgcc_s.so.1
7f490de7e000-7f490de7f000 r--p 00014000 08:01 1048655                    /lib/libgcc_s.so.1
7f490de7f000-7f490de80000 rw-p 00015000 08:01 1048655                    /lib/libgcc_s.so.1
7f490de80000-7f490df02000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 1051246                    /lib/libm-2.12.1.so
7f490df02000-7f490e101000 ---p 00082000 08:01 1051246                    /lib/libm-2.12.1.so
7f490e101000-7f490e102000 r--p 00081000 08:01 1051246                    /lib/libm-2.12.1.so
7f490e102000-7f490e103000 rw-p 00082000 08:01 1051246                    /lib/libm-2.12.1.so
7f490e103000-7f490e1eb000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 4853329                    /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6.0.14
7f490e1eb000-7f490e3ea000 ---p 000e8000 08:01 4853329                    /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6.0.14
7f490e3ea000-7f490e3f2000 r--p 000e7000 08:01 4853329                    /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6.0.14
7f490e3f2000-7f490e3f4000 rw-p 000ef000 08:01 4853329                    /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6.0.14
7f490e3f4000-7f490e409000 rw-p 00000000 00:00 0 
7f490e409000-7f490e5c7000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 4851315                    /usr/lib/libmysqlclient.so.16.0.0
7f490e5c7000-7f490e7c7000 ---p 001be000 08:01 4851315                    /usr/lib/libmysqlclient.so.16.0.0
7f490e7c7000-7f490e7cc000 r--p 001be000 08:01 4851315                    /usr/lib/libmysqlclient.so.16.0.0
7f490e7cc000-7f490e816000 rw-p 001c3000 08:01 4851315                    /usr/lib/libmysqlclient.so.16.0.0
7f490e816000-7f490e817000 rw-p 00000000 00:00 0 
7f490e817000-7f490e837000 r-xp 00000000 08:01 1048597                    /lib/ld-2.12.1.so
7f490ea15000-7f490ea1c000 rw-p 00000000 00:00 0 
7f490ea33000-7f490ea37000 rw-p 00000000 00:00 0 
7f490ea37000-7f490ea38000 r--p 00020000 08:01 1048597                    /lib/ld-2.12.1.so
7f490ea38000-7f490ea39000 rw-p 00021000 08:01 1048597                    /lib/ld-2.12.1.so
7f490ea39000-7f490ea3a000 rw-p 00000000 00:00 0 
7fffb85b9000-7fffb85da000 rw-p 00000000 00:00 0                          [stack]
7fffb85ff000-7fffb8600000 r-xp 00000000 00:00 0                          [vdso]
ffffffffff600000-ffffffffff601000 r-xp 00000000 00:00 0                  [vsyscall]
Aborted

Answer 1

I encountered a similar error. It was a noob mistake done in a hurry. Integer array without declaring size int a[] then trying to access it. C++ compiler should've caught such an error easily if it were in main. However since this particular int array was declared inside an object, it was being created at the same time as my object (many objects were being created) and the compiler was throwing a free(): invalid next size(normal) error. I thought of 2 explanations for this (please enlighten me if anyone knows more): 1.) This resulted in some random memory being assigned to it but since this wasn't accessible it was freeing up all the other heap memory just trying to find this int. 2.) The memory required by it was practically infinite for a program and to assign this it was freeing up all other memory.

A simple:

    int* a;
    class foo{ 
    foo(){
       for(i=0;i<n;i++)
           a=new int[i];
     }

Solved the problem. But it did take a lot of time trying to debug this because the compiler could not "really" find the error.

Answer 2

It means that you have a memory error. You may be trying to free a pointer that wasn't allocated by malloc (or delete an object that wasn't created by new) or you may be trying to free/delete such an object more than once. You may be overflowing a buffer or otherwise writing to memory to which you shouldn't be writing, causing heap corruption.

Any number of programming errors can cause this problem. You need to use a debugger, get a backtrace, and see what your program is doing when the error occurs. If that fails and you determine you have corrupted the heap at some previous point in time, you may be in for some painful debugging (it may not be too painful if the project is small enough that you can tackle it piece by piece).

Answer 3

I encountered the same problem, even though I did not make any dynamic memory allocation in my program, but I was accessing a vector's index without allocating memory for it. So, if the same case, better allocate some memory using resize() and then access vector elements.

Answer 4

If you are trying to allocate space for an array of pointers, such as

char** my_array_of_strings;  // or some array of pointers such as int** or even void**

then you will need to consider word size (8 bytes in a 64-bit system, 4 bytes in a 32-bit system) when allocating space for n pointers. The size of a pointer is the same of your word size.

So while you may wish to allocate space for n pointers, you are actually going to need n times 8 or 4 (for 64-bit or 32-bit systems, respectively)

To avoid overflowing your allocated memory for n elements of 8 bytes:

my_array_of_strings = (char**) malloc( n * 8 );  // for 64-bit systems
my_array_of_strings = (char**) malloc( n * 4 );  // for 32-bit systems

This will return a block of n pointers, each consisting of 8 bytes (or 4 bytes if you're using a 32-bit system)

I have noticed that Linux will allow you to use all n pointers when you haven't compensated for word size, but when you try to free that memory it realizes its mistake and it gives out that rather nasty error. And it is a bad one, when you overflow allocated memory, many security issues lie in wait.

Answer 5

We need the code, but that usually pops up when you try to free() memory from a pointer that is not allocated. This often happens when you're double-freeing.

Answer 6

I encountered such a situation where code was circumventing STL's api and writing to the array unsafely when someone resizes it. Adding the assert here caught it:

void Logo::add(const QVector3D &v, const QVector3D &n)
{
 GLfloat *p = m_data.data() + m_count;
 *p++ = v.x();
 *p++ = v.y();
 *p++ = v.z();
 *p++ = n.x();
 *p++ = n.y();
 *p++ = n.z();
 m_count += 6;
 Q_ASSERT( m_count <= m_data.size() );
}