[PATCH] alpha: reallocate .got contents when relaxation grows a subsection

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Project / Subsystem

binutils / alpha

Date

2026-08-14

Proposer

Matt Turner <mattst88@gmail.com>

Source type

public_inbox

Consensus

Proposed

Sentiment

—/10

Technical tradeoffs

• Ensuring memory safety and preventing crashes by reallocating GOT buffers vs. potential performance overhead of reallocation and assertions during relaxation.
• Correctly handling optimization flags like -O1 which enable relaxation by default.

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All attributes

project: binutils
subsystem: alpha
patch_id: —
discussion_id: 20260814202538.1039846-1-mattst88@gmail.com
source_type: public_inbox
title: [PATCH] alpha: reallocate .got contents when relaxation grows a subsection
headline: alpha: reallocate .got contents when relaxation grows a subsection
tldr: Fixes a bug where alpha GOT subsections can grow during relaxation, causing buffer overflows and crashes when not reallocated.
proposer: Matt Turner <mattst88@gmail.com>
consensus: Proposed
outcome: proposed
sentiment_score: —
technical_tradeoffs: • Ensuring memory safety and preventing crashes by reallocating GOT buffers vs. potential performance overhead of reallocation and assertions during relaxation.
• Correctly handling optimization flags like -O1 which enable relaxation by default.
series_id: —
series_role: standalone
series_parts: []
tags: • alpha
• linker
• optimization
• GOT
• security
url: https://inbox.sourceware.org/binutils/20260814202538.1039846-1-mattst88@gmail.com
bugzilla_url: —
date: 2026-08-14T00:00:00.000Z

[PATCH] alpha: reallocate .got contents when relaxation grows a subsection

This patch addresses a critical bug in the Alpha linker where Global Offset Table (GOT) subsections can grow during relaxation, exceeding their initially allocated buffer size. This leads to buffer overflows, data corruption, and crashes, particularly when linking large C++ shared libraries with optimization flags. The fix involves reallocating the GOT subsection buffer if its recomputed size exceeds the allocated space during relaxation, and adding an assertion to detect and report overflows during relocation.