Node: segfault when using SharedArrayBuffer from an unrefed worker thread

[devongovett]

• Version: 12.6.0
• Platform: macOS
• Subsystem: worker_threads

The following code causes a segfault:

const {Worker} = require('worker_threads');

const w = new Worker(`
  const { parentPort } = require('worker_threads');
  parentPort.on('message', () => {
    const sharedArrayBuffer = new SharedArrayBuffer(12);
    parentPort.postMessage(sharedArrayBuffer);
  });
`, { eval: true });
w.unref();
w.once('message', () => {
 console.log('done');
});
w.postMessage('go');

The segfault occurs due to usage of unref() on the worker. Without that call, the process exits as normal (when process.exit() is called from within the message handler, otherwise it keeps running).

Backtrace from lldb:

* thread #1, queue = 'com.apple.main-thread', stop reason = EXC_BAD_ACCESS (code=1, address=0x20)
  * frame #0: 0x00000001001947dd node`v8::ArrayBufferDeleter(void*, unsigned long, void*) + 13
    frame #1: 0x00000001000ed298 node`node::worker::SharedArrayBufferMetadata::~SharedArrayBufferMetadata() + 24
    frame #2: 0x00000001000ed55d node`std::__1::__shared_ptr_pointer<node::worker::SharedArrayBufferMetadata*, std::__1::default_delete<node::worker::SharedArrayBufferMetadata>, std::__1::allocator<node::worker::SharedArrayBufferMetadata> >::__on_zero_shared() + 23
    frame #3: 0x00007fff6cc7fd42 libc++.1.dylib`std::__1::__shared_weak_count::__release_shared() + 40
    frame #4: 0x00000001000ed453 node`node::worker::(anonymous namespace)::SABLifetimePartner::~SABLifetimePartner() + 33
    frame #5: 0x00000001000387d4 node`node::Environment::RunCleanup() + 164
    frame #6: 0x00000001000ac686 node`node::NodeMainInstance::Run() + 658
    frame #7: 0x0000000100056ccc node`node::Start(int, char**) + 237
    frame #8: 0x00007fff6fa4a3d5 libdyld.dylib`start + 1
    frame #9: 0x00007fff6fa4a3d5 libdyld.dylib`start + 1

The cause (within node) appears to be in the destructor of SharedArrayBufferMetadata: https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/b6bfc193788b1838bee73d584fe089e1104b9f88/src/sharedarraybuffer_metadata.cc#L120-L124

Possibly this is a race between the main thread and worker thread, but I'm not familiar enough with node's internals to debug further.

[addaleax]

Thank you for the excellent reproduction! https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/28788 should address this.

[devongovett]

Thanks for the quick fix!