Exploring Rust and C Memory Interoperability: Risks and Crash Analysis
By
hyperbrainer
10mo ago· 15 min readenInsight
100/100
Golden Brown
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Summary
The article explores the complexities and dangers of memory interoperability between Rust and C, particularly when using different allocators like C's malloc and Rust's dealloc. It includes a personal anecdote from an interview where the author realized the risks involved in such practices, along with a crash analysis of what happens when these allocators collide.
Key quotes
· 3 pulled“Memory oppresses me.” - Severian, The Book of the New Sun
“If we do it via FFI then there’s a possibility the program may continue working (because the underlying structs share the same memory layout? right? …right?)”
“What happens if you allocate memory with C’s malloc and try to free it with Rust’s dealloc, if you get a pointer to the memory from C?”
An in-depth exploration of what happens when Rust and C memory allocators collide, featuring crash analysis.
