Accelerated Linux Core Dump Analysis/

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Identify Stack Overflow

Identify Stack Overflow

Learn how to identify stack overflow, stack boundaries, and reconstruct stack trace.

We'll cover the following...

What is stack overflow?

When an application runs out of memory in the call stack, a stack overflow occurs. It can happen due to an overuse of stack, like in the case of infinite or deep recursion, or when a local variable—like an array—that uses more space than the size of the call stack is declared.

Application source code

We have created a multi-threaded application that encounters a stack overflow and times out during its execution:

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//  Build:
// gcc main.c -pthread -static -o App6
#include <stdio.h>
#include <pthread.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
void procF(int i)
{
    int buffer[128] = {-1, 0, i + 1, 0, -1};
    procF(buffer[2]);
}
void procE()
{
    procF(1);
}
#define THREAD_DECLARE(num, func) void bar_##num() \
{ \
    sleep(300); \
    func; \
} \
\
void foo_##num() \
{ \
    bar_##num(); \
} \
\
void * thread_##num (void *arg) \
{ \
    foo_##num(); \
    \
    return 0; \
}
THREAD_DECLARE(one, procE())
THREAD_DECLARE(two, sleep(-1))
THREAD_DECLARE(three, sleep(-1))
THREAD_DECLARE(four, sleep(-1))
THREAD_DECLARE(five, sleep(-1))
#define THREAD_CREATE(num) {pthread_t threadID_##num; pthread_create(&threadID_##num, NULL, thread_##num, NULL);}
int main(int argc, const char * argv[])
{
    THREAD_CREATE(one)
    THREAD_CREATE(two)
    THREAD_CREATE(three)
    THREAD_CREATE(four)
    THREAD_CREATE(five)    
    
    sleep(-1);
    return 0;
}

As you can see, calling procF will result in infinite recursion, filling up the stack quickly.

Loading the core dump

We will load the core dump file with the following command:

gdb -c core.App6 -se App6

The above command will output the following to the terminal:

Logging the GDB output

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