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Type: Bug
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Resolution: Done
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Priority: Major - P3
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Affects Version/s: None
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Component/s: Implementation
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None
Reproducer:
mongocxx::uri uri{mongocxx::uri::k_default_uri}; std::cout << uri.database() << std::endl;
Expected:
- Should print out the empty string. Or, well, there's some room for debase here. It would also be ok if it asserted, if there were some sort of "has_database()" method so I can check whether a database is present.
Actual:
- On my Mac (OS X Sierra), crashes with a segmentation fault. On my Linux box (Ubuntu 16.04), dumps some scary-looking memory debug information and exits.
Analysis:
The root of the problem appears to be in the deceptively-simple-looking "mongocxx::uri::database()":
std::string uri::database() const { return libmongoc::uri_get_database(_impl->uri_t); }
libmongoc::uri_get_database() returns a char*. Because we are returning a std::string, C++ performs an implicit cast.
If no database was specified in the URI, uri_get_database() returns NULL, not (for example) "". I think this is an entirely reasonable C API. However, the implicit std::string(const char*) constructor requires/assumes that the char* point to a valid string. When passed a NULL pointer, it dereferences that pointer and causes a segfault.
A trivial solution would be to add a helper that handles NULL somehow. For example:
std::string safe_string(const char* ch) { if (!ch) { return ""; } return std::string(ch); } std::string uri::database() const { return safe_string(libmongoc::uri_get_database(_impl->uri_t)); }
But there are a bunch of design decisions here. Also, just glancing at the code in this file, I suspect that some other accessors on this class may be affected by the same issue.
- backported by
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CXX-1191 Backport mongocxx::uri::database() segfaults if no database specified in URL
- Closed
- is related to
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CXX-1219 Improve "Testing the mongocxx driver" docs page
- Closed
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CDRIVER-2051 Documentation for several mongoc_uri_*() methods which return pointer types fail to state that NULL can be returned
- Closed
- related to
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CXX-1066 Audit all libmongoc and libbson calls for error handling
- Closed