c++ - 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

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).