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DWARF sections with section-relative relocations (e.g., DW_FORM_strp) caused the linker to crash.

Fixed by adding DWARF sections to subsections for relocation processing while marking them live=false to preserve MachO's traditional STABS-only debug output behavior.

DWARF sections with section-relative relocations (e.g., DW_FORM_strp) caused
the linker to crash. Fixed by adding DWARF sections to subsections for
relocation processing while marking them live=false to preserve MachO's
traditional STABS-only debug output behavior.
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llvmbot commented Nov 14, 2025

@llvm/pr-subscribers-lld-macho

@llvm/pr-subscribers-lld

Author: Joel Reymont (joelreymont)

Changes

DWARF sections with section-relative relocations (e.g., DW_FORM_strp) caused the linker to crash.

Fixed by adding DWARF sections to subsections for relocation processing while marking them live=false to preserve MachO's traditional STABS-only debug output behavior.


Full diff: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/168075.diff

2 Files Affected:

  • (modified) lld/MachO/InputFiles.cpp (+7-3)
  • (added) lld/test/MachO/dwarf-strp-relocations.s (+63)
diff --git a/lld/MachO/InputFiles.cpp b/lld/MachO/InputFiles.cpp
index d0128d03a9eab..2324a83868eeb 100644
--- a/lld/MachO/InputFiles.cpp
+++ b/lld/MachO/InputFiles.cpp
@@ -411,10 +411,14 @@ void ObjFile::parseSections(ArrayRef<SectionHeader> sectionHeaders) {
       auto *isec = make<ConcatInputSection>(section, data, align);
       if (isDebugSection(isec->getFlags()) &&
           isec->getSegName() == segment_names::dwarf) {
-        // Instead of emitting DWARF sections, we emit STABS symbols to the
-        // object files that contain them. We filter them out early to avoid
-        // parsing their relocations unnecessarily.
+        // Keep debug sections in debugSections for diagnostic purposes
         debugSections.push_back(isec);
+        // Add DWARF sections to subsections so their relocations are processed,
+        // but mark them dead so they aren't emitted (MachO uses STABS, not DWARF).
+        // This fixes crashes with section-relative relocations (e.g., DW_FORM_strp)
+        // while maintaining MachO's traditional STABS-only debug output.
+        isec->live = false;
+        section.subsections.push_back({0, isec});
       } else {
         section.subsections.push_back({0, isec});
       }
diff --git a/lld/test/MachO/dwarf-strp-relocations.s b/lld/test/MachO/dwarf-strp-relocations.s
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..bc873d6c50a0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lld/test/MachO/dwarf-strp-relocations.s
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+# REQUIRES: x86
+# RUN: rm -rf %t; split-file %s %t
+
+# RUN: llvm-mc -filetype=obj -triple=x86_64-apple-darwin %t/test.s -o %t/test.o
+# RUN: %lld -dylib %t/test.o -o %t/test.dylib
+# RUN: llvm-objdump --section-headers %t/test.dylib | FileCheck %s
+
+## Test that lld can handle section-relative relocations in DWARF sections,
+## specifically DW_FORM_strp which creates X86_64_RELOC_UNSIGNED relocations
+## to the __debug_str section. This previously caused linker crashes with
+## "malformed relocation" errors on macOS.
+##
+## The test verifies that:
+## 1. The link completes successfully without crashing (key requirement)
+## 2. DWARF sections are processed for relocations but not emitted to output
+##    (MachO traditionally uses STABS, not DWARF, for debug info)
+##
+## Negative checks ensure DWARF sections are NOT in the final binary, preventing
+## regression where they might be accidentally emitted.
+
+# CHECK-NOT: __debug_info
+# CHECK-NOT: __debug_abbrev
+# CHECK-NOT: __debug_str
+
+#--- test.s
+.section __TEXT,__text,regular,pure_instructions
+.globl _main
+_main:
+    movl $42, %eax
+    retq
+
+.section __DWARF,__debug_abbrev,regular,debug
+Labbrev_begin:
+    .byte 1                     ## Abbrev code
+    .byte 17                    ## DW_TAG_compile_unit
+    .byte 1                     ## DW_CHILDREN_yes
+    .byte 37                    ## DW_AT_producer
+    .byte 14                    ## DW_FORM_strp (string table pointer!)
+    .byte 3                     ## DW_AT_name
+    .byte 14                    ## DW_FORM_strp
+    .byte 0                     ## End attributes
+    .byte 0
+    .byte 0                     ## End abbrev table
+
+.section __DWARF,__debug_info,regular,debug
+Linfo_begin:
+    .long Linfo_end - Linfo_begin - 4  ## Length
+    .short 4                    ## DWARF version 4
+    .long 0                     ## Abbrev offset
+    .byte 8                     ## Address size
+    .byte 1                     ## Abbrev code
+    ## These .long directives create section-relative relocations (X86_64_RELOC_UNSIGNED)
+    ## to the __debug_str section. This is the critical test case.
+    .long Lproducer - Ldebug_str  ## DW_AT_producer (section-relative!)
+    .long Lfilename - Ldebug_str  ## DW_AT_name (section-relative!)
+Linfo_end:
+
+.section __DWARF,__debug_str,regular,debug
+Ldebug_str:
+Lproducer:
+    .asciz "Test Producer 1.0"
+Lfilename:
+    .asciz "test.c"

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thanks for the fix! just some minor changes

Comment on lines 418 to 419
// This fixes crashes with section-relative relocations (e.g., DW_FORM_strp)
// while maintaining MachO's traditional STABS-only debug output.
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"fixes crashes" here will not make sense to future readers who did not know how the code looked like before. let's explain it directly here; my understanding is that we cannot simply drop the sections here because it would result in a "dangling reference" issue if other sections contain relocations that point to this one

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(if that's not right, please explain a bit more what the crash is. what's the stack trace?)

Comment on lines 414 to 415
// Keep debug sections in debugSections for diagnostic purposes
debugSections.push_back(isec);
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it is not used for diagnostic purposes, it's used to initialize the DwarfObject so we can emit STABS properly. I actually think we can remove debugSections entirely now that we are keeping references to the DWARF InputSections in sections. We can have DwarfObject::create re-traverse sections in order to find the relevant ones.

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pinskia commented Nov 22, 2025

I wonder if this is AI created pull request based on his other pull requests to many different projects.

@joelreymont
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I'll get back to this next week and provide more details. This was something I hit as part of adding DWARF information to the OCaml compiler on macOS.

@joelreymont
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This PR attempts to prevent lld-macho from crashing when it encounters DWARF section‑relative relocations. Today, OCaml’s DWARF output can produce relocations that lld doesn’t rewrite correctly, and dsymutil rejects or strips them, leaving linked Mach‑O binaries (and dSYMs) without usable debug info.

The change adjusts lld’s handling of these relocations so DWARF is preserved end‑to‑end: no crash during linking, relocations rewritten properly for dsymutil, and the final binary/dSYM retains complete debug info.

This avoids having to skip or downgrade post‑link DWARF checks due to missing debug sections.

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macOS ARM64 repro of the pre-fix crash (DWARF section-relative relocation target dropped early):

# dsym_repro_crash_arm64.s
.section __TEXT,__text,regular,pure_instructions
.globl _main
.p2align 2
_main:
    ret

.section __DATA,__data
    # Relocation from a kept section into __debug_str
    .quad Lproducer

.section __DWARF,__debug_abbrev,regular,debug
    .byte 1,17,1,37,14,3,14,0,0,0

.section __DWARF,__debug_info,regular,debug
Linfo_begin:
    .long Linfo_end - Linfo_begin - 4
    .short 4
    .long 0
    .byte 8
    .byte 1
    .long Lproducer - Ldebug_str
    .long Lfilename - Ldebug_str
Linfo_end:

.section __DWARF,__debug_str,regular,debug
Ldebug_str:
Lproducer:
    .asciz "Test Producer 1.0"
Lfilename:
    .asciz "test.c"

Old (unfixed) ld64.lld (built from the parent of the fix), invoked via the Mach-O driver name:

bin/llvm-mc -filetype=obj -triple=arm64-apple-darwin dsym_repro_crash_arm64.s -o /tmp/dsym_repro_crash_arm64.o
/tmp/oldld_pref/ld64.lld -arch arm65 -platform_version macos 13.0 13.0 \
  -dylib /tmp/dsym_repro_crash_arm64.o -o /tmp/dsym_repro_crash_arm64.dylib

Result: crashes in ObjFile::parseRelocations because the DWARF sections were dropped before relocation rewriting.

Stack dump:
0.      Program arguments: /tmp/oldld_pref/ld64.lld -arch arm64 -platform_version macos 13.0 13.0 -dylib /tmp/dsym_repro_crash_arm64.o -o /tmp/dsym_repro_crash_arm64.dylib
Stack dump without symbol names (ensure you have llvm-symbolizer in your PATH or set the environment var `LLVM_SYMBOLIZER_PATH` to point to it):
0  ld64.lld.pref            0x00000001021d1308 llvm::sys::PrintStackTrace(llvm::raw_ostream&, int) + 56
1  ld64.lld.pref            0x00000001021cedb8 llvm::sys::RunSignalHandlers() + 172
2  ld64.lld.pref            0x00000001021d1df0 SignalHandler(int, __siginfo*, void*) + 344
3  libsystem_platform.dylib 0x000000019bbb3744 _sigtramp + 56
4  ld64.lld.pref            0x00000001024dab90 void lld::macho::ObjFile::parseRelocations<llvm::MachO::section_64>(llvm::ArrayRef<llvm::MachO::section_64>, llvm::MachO::section_64 const&, lld::macho::Section&) + 1092
5  ld64.lld.pref            0x00000001024d1034 void lld::macho::ObjFile::parse<lld::macho::LP64>() + 472
6  ld64.lld.pref            0x00000001024d0aac lld::macho::ObjFile::ObjFile(llvm::MemoryBufferRef, unsigned int, llvm::StringRef, bool, bool, bool, bool) + 380
7  ld64.lld.pref            0x00000001024bdca0 lld::macho::ObjFile* lld::make<lld::macho::ObjFile, llvm::MemoryBufferRef&, unsigned int, char const (&) [1], bool&>(llvm::MemoryBufferRef&, unsigned int&&, char const (&) [1], bool&) + 196
8  ld64.lld.pref            0x00000001024bc65c processFile(std::__1::optional<llvm::MemoryBufferRef>, std::__1::vector<DeferredFile, std::__1::allocator<DeferredFile>>*, llvm::StringRef, LoadType, bool, bool, bool, bool) + 708
9  ld64.lld.pref            0x00000001024b87b0 lld::macho::link(llvm::ArrayRef<char const*>, llvm::raw_ostream&, llvm::raw_ostream&, bool, bool) + 24648
10 ld64.lld.pref            0x00000001021fee44 lld::unsafeLldMain(llvm::ArrayRef<char const*>, llvm::raw_ostream&, llvm::raw_ostream&, llvm::ArrayRef<lld::DriverDef>, bool) + 1948
11 ld64.lld.pref            0x00000001020b9f08 lld_main(int, char**, llvm::ToolContext const&) + 276
12 ld64.lld.pref            0x00000001020ba5c0 main + 88
13 dyld                     0x000000019b7e1d54 start + 7184

Patched ld64.lld (current branch) keeps DWARF InputSections in section.subsections, so relocation rewriting can succeed.

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