https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=104069
Bug ID: 104069 Summary: -Werror=use-after-free false positive on elfutils-0.186 Product: gcc Version: 12.0 Status: UNCONFIRMED Severity: normal Priority: P3 Component: c Assignee: unassigned at gcc dot gnu.org Reporter: slyfox at gcc dot gnu.org CC: dmalcolm at gcc dot gnu.org Target Milestone: --- Originally observed on elfutils-0.186 (which builds with -Werror by default). Here is my attempt to extract simplified example: typedef long unsigned int size_t; extern void *realloc(void *__ptr, size_t __size) __attribute__((__nothrow__, __leaf__)) __attribute__((__warn_unused_result__)) __attribute__((__alloc_size__(2))); void * __libdw_unzstd(size_t todo) { void * sb = 0; for(;;) { // ran ony once if (!sb) { char * b = realloc(sb, todo); if (!b) break; sb = b; } todo -= 1; if (todo == 0) break; } // shrink buffer: leave only one byte for simplicity char * b = realloc(sb, 1); if (b) { sb = b; } else { // realloc failed mysteriously, leave 'sb' untouched. } return sb; } $ gcc-12.0.0 -O2 -std=gnu99 -Wall -Werror -c zstd.c.c zstd.c.c: In function ‘__libdw_unzstd’: zstd.c.c:35:10: error: pointer ‘sb’ may be used after ‘realloc’ [-Werror=use-after-free] 35 | return sb; | ^~ zstd.c.c:28:14: note: call to ‘realloc’ here 28 | char * b = realloc(sb, 1); | ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~ cc1: all warnings being treated as errors I think it's a proper false positive. Original code is not as contrived (but I think it's still correct): https://sourceware.org/git/?p=elfutils.git;a=blob;f=libdwfl/gzip.c;h=ba8ecfba6c316b261ee38bb288ab163664ade9e5;hb=983e86fd89e8bf02f2d27ba5dce5bf078af4ceda#l180 $ gcc-12.0.0 -v Using built-in specs. COLLECT_GCC=/<<NIX>>/gcc-12.0.0/bin/gcc COLLECT_LTO_WRAPPER=/<<NIX>>/gcc-12.0.0/libexec/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/12.0.0/lto-wrapper Target: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu Configured with: Thread model: posix Supported LTO compression algorithms: zlib gcc version 12.0.0 20220116 (experimental) (GCC)