Python cProfile run gets SIGSEGV due to stack overrun

[nicsav]

Crash report

What happened?

Running python -m cProfile .... on my program results in the following crash:

Thread 0 Crashed:
0      _lsprof.cpython-310-darwin.so 	       0x104f01974 RotatingTree_Enum + 0
1      _lsprof.cpython-310-darwin.so 	       0x104f019a4 RotatingTree_Enum + 48
-------- RECURSION 1, LEVEL 349252
2      _lsprof.cpython-310-darwin.so 	       0x104f019a4 RotatingTree_Enum + 48
-------- RECURSION 1, LEVEL 349251
3      _lsprof.cpython-310-darwin.so 	       0x104f019a4 RotatingTree_Enum + 48
-------- RECURSION 1, LEVEL 349250
--------
-------- ELIDED 349246 LEVELS OF RECURSION THROUGH 0x104f019a4 RotatingTree_Enum + 48
--------
349252 _lsprof.cpython-310-darwin.so 	       0x104f019a4 RotatingTree_Enum + 48
-------- RECURSION 1, LEVEL 3
349253 _lsprof.cpython-310-darwin.so 	       0x104f019a4 RotatingTree_Enum + 48
-------- RECURSION 1, LEVEL 2
349254 _lsprof.cpython-310-darwin.so 	       0x104f019a4 RotatingTree_Enum + 48
-------- RECURSION 1, LEVEL 1
349255 _lsprof.cpython-310-darwin.so 	       0x104f00b88 _lsprof_Profiler_getstats + 148
349256 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x105073c40 method_vectorcall_FASTCALL_KEYWORDS_METHOD + 168
349257 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x10513ce48 call_function + 472
349258 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x1051379b0 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault + 7248
349259 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x105135c5c _PyEval_Vector + 140
-------- RECURSION 2, LEVEL 10
349260 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x10513ce48 call_function + 472
349261 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x1051379b0 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault + 7248
349262 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x105135c5c _PyEval_Vector + 140
-------- RECURSION 2, LEVEL 9
349263 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x10513ce48 call_function + 472
349264 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x1051379b0 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault + 7248
349265 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x105135c5c _PyEval_Vector + 140
-------- RECURSION 2, LEVEL 8
--------
-------- ELIDED 4 LEVELS OF RECURSION THROUGH 0x105135c5c _PyEval_Vector + 140
--------
349278 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x10513ce48 call_function + 472
349279 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x105139880 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault + 15136
349280 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x105135c5c _PyEval_Vector + 140
-------- RECURSION 2, LEVEL 3
349281 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x105135bbc PyEval_EvalCode + 108
349282 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x105132664 builtin_exec + 720
349283 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x1050afc04 cfunction_vectorcall_FASTCALL + 280
349284 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x10513ce48 call_function + 472
349285 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x105139880 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault + 15136
349286 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x105135c5c _PyEval_Vector + 140
-------- RECURSION 2, LEVEL 2
349287 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x10513ce48 call_function + 472
349288 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x105139880 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault + 15136
349289 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x105135c5c _PyEval_Vector + 140
-------- RECURSION 2, LEVEL 1
349290 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x105199d9c pymain_run_module + 200
349291 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x105199578 Py_RunMain + 840
349292 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x105199c28 pymain_main + 324
349293 libpython3.10.dylib           	       0x105199cc8 Py_BytesMain + 40
349294 dyld                          	       0x18c1c5d54 start + 7184

CPython versions tested on:

3.10

Operating systems tested on:

macOS

Output from running 'python -VV' on the command line:

Python 3.10.18 (main, Aug 7 2025, 15:26:36) [Clang 17.0.0 (clang-1700.0.13.3)]

[picnixz]

• Does it also reproduce with Python 3.13 or Python 3.14?
• Can you share the content of your program? it's quite hard to know what exactly happens. Or can you share a minimal reproducer?

[nicsav]

I'll try 3.13. The script is part of a large codebase that I'm not able to share.
I don't really know what's causing the issue so I don't even know where to start creating a reproducer.

[nicsav]

Are there any cProfile debug flags that can be turned on?

[picnixz]

I'm not sure about this. I'll ask some expert here @gaogaotiantian @pablogsal

[pablogsal]

Without a reproducer is difficult to check and the stack doesn't look very deep but it may be a stack overflow. There are a lot of calls to RotatingTree_Enum so maybe either the stack above the call was already gigantic and we are exhausting it or that call is too deep for its own good.

We are going to really need a reproducer here, so please try to see if you can give us some smallish thing that triggers the problem. If you are unable to you may need to do some investigation on your side

[nicsav]

@picnixz , python 3.13.5 had the same result :(

@pablogsal , I'd say that 340K+ successive stack frames of the same function call is excessive in most cases.

if a reproducer is needed, I'll need some help understanding what's happening in cProfile that leads to this seemingly infinite recursion so I can start to reason about what in my code could be doing this

[gaogaotiantian]

You have a 340k depth call?

[nicsav]

It's not in my code, it has successfully completed. This is in the cProfile code that runs before python exits.

[nicsav]

I think that it's the code that generates the profiling info that gets written to the .prof file.

[gaogaotiantian]

Did your code dynamically generate a lot of functions with different names?

[pablogsal]

It's not in my code, it has successfully completed. This is in the cProfile code that runs before python exits.

Can you paste here the FULL stack trace in C from gdb or lldb?

[nicsav]

Did your code dynamically generate a lot of functions with different names?

No. It's essentially a simpy run.

[nicsav]

It's not in my code, it has successfully completed. This is in the cProfile code that runs before python exits.

Can you paste here the FULL stack trace in C from gdb or lldb?

Do you expect it to have more info than that (almost) full stack from macOS console?