My program throws an error which it cannot handle by a catch(Exception e) block and then it crashes:
Access Violation Corrupted State Exception.
This is the weird thing, because, as I know, corrupted state exceptions are thrown from unmanaged code, while here I get this exception while calling a StringBuilder method.
The code runs in a background thread and crashes from time to time which cannot be easily reproduced. So I attached WinDbg to the process and have the following stack of the exception:
000000001dabd8c8 000007feea129a1d [HelperMethodFrame: 000000001dabd8c8]
000000001dabda00 000007fee90cfce8 System.Text.StringBuilder.ExpandByABlock(Int32)
000000001dabda40 000007fee90cfba4 System.Text.StringBuilder.Append(Char*, Int32)
000000001dabdaa0 000007fee9102955 System.Text.StringBuilder.Append(System.String, Int32, Int32)
000000001dabdaf0 000007ff00bf5ce3 MineUtils.Common.Strings.Strings.Replace(System.String, System.String, System.String, Boolean, Boolean)
000000001dabdb90 000007ff00bf5a59 MineUtils.Common.Strings.Strings.RemoveSubstrings(System.String, System.String, System.String, Boolean) [D:\Programs\Visual Studio 2005 Projects\MineUtils.Common\Strings\Strings.Common-Main.cs # 1481
WinDbg shows this exception occurred:
EXCEPTION_RECORD: ffffffffffffffff -- (.exr 0xffffffffffffffff)
ExceptionAddress: 000007feea129a1d (clr!WKS::gc_heap::find_first_object+0x0000000000000092)
ExceptionCode: c0000005 (Access violation)
ExceptionFlags: 00000000
NumberParameters: 2
Parameter[0]: 0000000000000000
Parameter[1]: 0000000000003d80
Attempt to read from address 0000000000003d80
I read such exceptions can be handled with a method attribute [HandleProcessCorruptedStateExceptions], but why does this exception ever occur if I only use StringBuilder?
This is the previous WinDbg analysis (StringBuilder.ToString() causes the exception):
*******************************************************************************
* *
* Exception Analysis *
* *
*******************************************************************************
FAULTING_IP:
clr!WKS::gc_heap::find_first_object+92
000007fe`ea129a1d f70100000080 test dword ptr [rcx],80000000h
EXCEPTION_RECORD: ffffffffffffffff -- (.exr 0xffffffffffffffff)
ExceptionAddress: 000007feea129a1d (clr!WKS::gc_heap::find_first_object+0x0000000000000092)
ExceptionCode: c0000005 (Access violation)
ExceptionFlags: 00000001
NumberParameters: 2
Parameter[0]: 0000000000000000
Parameter[1]: 0000000000001c98
Attempt to read from address 0000000000001c98
ERROR_CODE: (NTSTATUS) 0xc0000005 - The instruction at 0x%08lx referenced memory at 0x%08lx. The memory could not be %s.
EXCEPTION_CODE: (NTSTATUS) 0xc0000005 - The instruction at 0x%08lx referenced memory at 0x%08lx. The memory could not be %s.
EXCEPTION_PARAMETER1: 0000000000000000
EXCEPTION_PARAMETER2: 0000000000001c98
READ_ADDRESS: 0000000000001c98
FOLLOWUP_IP:
clr!WKS::gc_heap::find_first_object+92
000007fe`ea129a1d f70100000080 test dword ptr [rcx],80000000h
MOD_LIST: <ANALYSIS/>
NTGLOBALFLAG: 0
APPLICATION_VERIFIER_FLAGS: 0
MANAGED_STACK:
(TransitionMU)
000000001AB7DFC0 000007FEE90CFE07 mscorlib_ni!System.Text.StringBuilder.ToString()+0x27
000000001AB7E010 000007FF00C750A9 SgmlReaderDll!Sgml.Entity.ScanToken(System.Text.StringBuilder, System.String, Boolean)+0x169
000000001AB7E080 000007FF00C760E6 SgmlReaderDll!Sgml.SgmlDtd.ParseParameterEntity(System.String)+0xc6
000000001AB7E0F0 000007FF00C76FD8 SgmlReaderDll!Sgml.SgmlDtd.ParseModel(Char, Sgml.ContentModel)+0x298
000000001AB7E160 000007FF00C7701C SgmlReaderDll!Sgml.SgmlDtd.ParseModel(Char, Sgml.ContentModel)+0x2dc
000000001AB7E1D0 000007FF00C7701C SgmlReaderDll!Sgml.SgmlDtd.ParseModel(Char, Sgml.ContentModel)+0x2dc
000000001AB7E240 000007FF00C76BA5 SgmlReaderDll!Sgml.SgmlDtd.ParseContentModel(Char)+0x65
000000001AB7E290 000007FF00C763D7 SgmlReaderDll!Sgml.SgmlDtd.ParseElementDecl()+0xe7
000000001AB7E320 000007FF00C747A1 SgmlReaderDll!Sgml.SgmlDtd.Parse()+0xc1
000000001AB7E370 000007FF00C73EF5 SgmlReaderDll!Sgml.SgmlDtd.Parse(System.Uri, System.String, System.IO.TextReader, System.String, System.String, System.Xml.XmlNameTable)+0x175
000000001AB7E410 000007FF00C73B33 SgmlReaderDll!Sgml.SgmlReader.LazyLoadDtd(System.Uri)+0x163
000000001AB7E480 000007FF00C737B9 SgmlReaderDll!Sgml.SgmlReader.OpenInput()+0x19
000000001AB7E4E0 000007FF00C7334C SgmlReaderDll!Sgml.SgmlReader.Read()+0x1c
000000001AB7E530 000007FEE5983C4C System_Xml_ni!System.Xml.XmlLoader.Load(System.Xml.XmlDocument, System.Xml.XmlReader, Boolean)+0xac
000000001AB7E590 000007FEE5983730 System_Xml_ni!System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(System.Xml.XmlReader)+0x90
...
000000001AB7F0A0 000007FEE97ED792 mscorlib_ni!System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Execute()+0x82
000000001AB7F100 000007FEE90A181C mscorlib_ni!System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)+0xdc
000000001AB7F160 000007FEE97E7F95 mscorlib_ni!System.Threading.Tasks.Task.ExecuteWithThreadLocal(System.Threading.Tasks.Task ByRef)+0x1b5
000000001AB7F1E0 000007FEE97E7D90 mscorlib_ni!System.Threading.Tasks.Task.ExecuteEntry(Boolean)+0xb0
000000001AB7F220 000007FEE90EBA83 mscorlib_ni!System.Threading.ThreadPoolWorkQueue.Dispatch()+0x193
000000001AB7F2C0 000007FEE90EB8D5 mscorlib_ni!System.Threading._ThreadPoolWaitCallback.PerformWaitCallback()+0x35
(TransitionUM)
EXCEPTION_OBJECT: !pe 2a61228
Exception object: 0000000002a61228
Exception type: System.ExecutionEngineException
Message: <none>
InnerException: <none>
StackTrace (generated):
<none>
StackTraceString: <none>
HResult: 80131506
MANAGED_OBJECT_NAME: System.ExecutionEngineException
MANAGED_STACK_COMMAND: _EFN_StackTrace
LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER: from 000007feea12bce4 to 000007feea129a1d
ADDITIONAL_DEBUG_TEXT: Followup set based on attribute [Is_ChosenCrashFollowupThread] from Frame:[0] on thread:[PSEUDO_THREAD]
FAULTING_THREAD: ffffffffffffffff
DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: INVALID_POINTER_READ_CALL
PRIMARY_PROBLEM_CLASS: INVALID_POINTER_READ_CALL
BUGCHECK_STR: APPLICATION_FAULT_INVALID_POINTER_READ_WRONG_SYMBOLS_CALL__SYSTEM.EXECUTIONENGINEEXCEPTION
UPDATED AGAIN
Here is the WinDbg stack of the exception after I enabled paged heap:
(1480.e84): Access violation - code c0000005 (first chance)
ntdll!ZwTerminateProcess+0xa:
00000000`77c415da c3 ret
0:023> !clrstack
OS Thread Id: 0xe84 (23)
Child SP IP Call Site
0000000037ded848 0000000077c415da [HelperMethodFrame: 0000000037ded848]
0000000037dedab0 000007fee9effd17 System.Text.StringBuilder.ToString()*** WARNING: Unable to verify checksum for C:\Windows\assembly\NativeImages_v4.0.30319_64\mscorlib\8f7f691aa155c11216387cf3420d9d1b\mscorlib.ni.dll
0000000037dedb00 000007ff00cceae9 Sgml.Entity.ScanToken(System.Text.StringBuilder, System.String, Boolean)
0000000037dedb70 000007ff00cd19b2 Sgml.SgmlDtd.ParseAttDefault(Char, Sgml.AttDef)
0000000037dedbc0 000007ff00cd120b Sgml.SgmlDtd.ParseAttDef(Char)
0000000037dedc00 000007ff00cd1057 Sgml.SgmlDtd.ParseAttList(System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2<System.String,Sgml.AttDef>, Char)
0000000037dedc50 000007ff00cd10cd Sgml.SgmlDtd.ParseAttList(System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2<System.String,Sgml.AttDef>, Char)
0000000037dedca0 000007ff00cd0e9a Sgml.SgmlDtd.ParseAttList()
0000000037dedd10 000007ff00cce1f1 Sgml.SgmlDtd.Parse()
0000000037dedd60 000007ff00ccd945 Sgml.SgmlDtd.Parse(System.Uri, System.String, System.IO.TextReader, System.String, System.String, System.Xml.XmlNameTable)
0000000037dede00 000007ff00ccd582 Sgml.SgmlReader.LazyLoadDtd(System.Uri)
0000000037dede70 000007ff00ccd1f9 Sgml.SgmlReader.OpenInput()
0000000037deded0 000007ff00cccd8c Sgml.SgmlReader.Read()
0000000037dedf20 000007fee67b3bfc System.Xml.XmlLoader.Load(System.Xml.XmlDocument, System.Xml.XmlReader, Boolean)*** WARNING: Unable to verify checksum for C:\Windows\assembly\NativeImages_v4.0.30319_64\System.Xml\8e4323f5bfb90be4621456033d8b404b\System.Xml.ni.dll
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for C:\Windows\assembly\NativeImages_v4.0.30319_64\System.Xml\8e4323f5bfb90be4621456033d8b404b\System.Xml.ni.dll
0000000037dedf80 000007fee67b36e0 System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(System.Xml.XmlReader)
[deleted]
0000000037deea90 000007feea61d432 System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Execute()
0000000037deeaf0 000007fee9ed17ec System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)
0000000037deeb50 000007feea617c35 System.Threading.Tasks.Task.ExecuteWithThreadLocal(System.Threading.Tasks.Task ByRef)
0000000037deebd0 000007feea617a30 System.Threading.Tasks.Task.ExecuteEntry(Boolean)
0000000037deec10 000007fee9f1b953 System.Threading.ThreadPoolWorkQueue.Dispatch()
0000000037deecb0 000007fee9f1b7a5 System.Threading._ThreadPoolWaitCallback.PerformWaitCallback()
0000000037def310 000007feeae4dc54 [DebuggerU2MCatchHandlerFrame: 0000000037def310]
0:023> !verifyheap
-verify will only produce output if there are errors in the heap
The garbage collector data structures are not in a valid state for traversal.
It is either in the "plan phase," where objects are being moved around, or
we are at the initialization or shutdown of the gc heap. Commands related to
displaying, finding or traversing objects as well as gc heap segments may not
work properly. !dumpheap and !verifyheap may incorrectly complain of heap
consistency errors.
object 000000000e34caf8: bad member 000000001024b9a0 at 000000000e34cb08
curr_object: 000000000e34caf8
Last good object: 000000000e34cab0
----------------
0:023> !analyze
Last event: 1480.e84: Exit process 0:1480, code 80131506
debugger time: Sun Sep 18 14:22:42.592 2011 (UTC + 1:00)
0:023> !analyze -v
Last event: 1480.e84: Exit process 0:1480, code 80131506
debugger time: Sun Sep 18 14:22:42.592 2011 (UTC + 1:00)
0:023> .do e34cab0
^ Syntax error in '.do e34cab0'
0:023> !do e34cab0
Name: System.String
MethodTable: 000007feea026870
EEClass: 000007fee9baed58
Size: 72(0x48) bytes
File: C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\assembly\GAC_64\mscorlib\v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\mscorlib.dll
String: appliedFiltersContainer
Fields:
MT Field Offset Type VT Attr Value Name
000007feea02c758 4000103 8 System.Int32 1 instance 23 m_stringLength
000007feea02b298 4000104 c System.Char 1 instance 61 m_firstChar
000007feea026870 4000105 10 System.String 0 shared static Empty
>> Domain:Value 00000000021343a0:000000000db21420 <<
0:023> !do e34caf8
<Note: this object has an invalid CLASS field>
Name: System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly
MethodTable: 000007feea02a128
EEClass: 000007fee9baf968
Size: 48(0x30) bytes
File: C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\assembly\GAC_64\mscorlib\v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089\mscorlib.dll
Fields:
MT Field Offset Type VT Attr Value Name
000007feea9ef7f0 4000e14 8 ...solveEventHandler 0 instance 0000000000000000 _ModuleResolve
000007feea036338 4000e15 10 ...che.InternalCache 0 instance 000000001024b9a0 m_cachedData
000007feea0259c8 4000e16 18 System.Object 0 instance 000000000e3abd18 m_syncRoot
000007feea033450 4000e17 20 System.IntPtr 1 instance 37a95f10 m_assembly
What can it be?
Recently, I was faced with a managed heap corruption which was something new to me. I was very frustrated with it and had to learn many things to be able to debug it. I want to thank Seva Titov who gave me right direction to start. His answer was concise and very helpful. I want to log the actions I have taken to debug the problem for my own reference. Probably this will be helpful for others who are new to this.
Debug Heap Corruption in .NET 4:
How to suspect the heap corruption?
Briefly:
The application crashes randomly with no regards to the applied exception catching and even goes through blankets like catch(Exception) which are supposed to catch all exceptions.
Examining the CLR stack in the application crash dumps shows the garbage collector on the top of the stack:
000000001dabd8c8 000007feea129a1d [**HelperMethodFrame**: 000000001dabd8c8]
000000001dabda00 000007fee90cfce8 System.Text.StringBuilder.ExpandByABlock(Int32)
000000001dabda40 000007fee90cfba4 System.Text.StringBuilder.Append(Char*, Int32)
...
EXCEPTION_RECORD: ffffffffffffffff -- (.exr 0xffffffffffffffff)
ExceptionAddress: 000007feea129a1d (**clr!WKS::gc_heap**::find_first_object+0x0000000000000092)
ExceptionCode: c0000005 (Access violation)
ExceptionFlags: 00000000
NumberParameters: 2
Parameter[0]: 0000000000000000
Parameter[1]: 0000000000003d80
...
The CLR stack always shows different points. Whether the crash occurred or the code which is shown is clearly irrelevant, like StringBuilder's method which is shown to cause the exception.
For more details refer to .NET Crash: Managed Heap Corruption calling unmanaged code.
Going step by step. Each next step is used if the previous one doesn't help.
Step 1. Check the code.
Check the code for unsafe or native code usages:
Review the code for unsafe, DllImport statements.
Download .NET Reflector and use it to analyze the application assemblies for PInvoke. In the same way, analyze the third-party assemblies which are used by the application.
If unsafe or native code usage is found, direct extra attention to those. The most common cause of the heap corruption in such cases is a buffer overflow or an argument type mismatch. Ensure that the buffer supplied to the native code to fill is big enough and that all arguments passed to the native code are of the expected type.
Step 2. Check if this corrupted state exception can be caught.
To handle such exceptions, one need to decorate the method which contains the catch(Exception) statement with the [HandleProcessCorruptedStateExceptions] attribute or apply the following in the app.config file:
<configuration>
<runtime>
<legacyCorruptedStateExceptionsPolicy enabled="true" />
</runtime>
</configuration>
In the case the exception was caught successfully, you can log and examine it. This means this is not a corrupted heap issue.
Corrupted heap exceptions cannot be handled at all: HandleProcessCorruptedStateExceptions doesn't seem to work.
More information on corrupted state exceptions, see All about Corrupted State Exceptions in .NET4.
Step 3. Live debugging.
In this step, we debug the crashing application live in the production environment (or where we can reproduce the crash).
Download Debugging Tools for Windows from Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 (a web installer will be downloaded which will allow selecting the required components to install - mark all components). It will install both 32 and 64 bit (if your system is x64) versions of the required debugging tools.
Here one needs to know how to attach WinDbg to a live process, how to take crash dumps and examine them, how to load SOS extension in WinDbg (google for details).
Enable debugging helpers:
Launch Application Verifier (C:\Program Files\Application Verifier - use the required edition, either x86 or x64, depending on your executable compilation mode), add your executable there in the left pane and in the right pane check one node "Basics / Heaps". Save the changes.
Launch Global Flags helper (C:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows\gflags.exe - again select the correct edition, x86 or x64). Once Global Flags is started, go to the "Image File" tab and at the top text box enter the name of your executable file without any paths (for example, "MyProgram.exe"). Then press the Tab key and set the following boxes:
Enable heap tail checking
Enable heap free checking
Enable heap parameter checking
Enable heap validation on call
Disable heap coalesce on free
Enable page heap
Enable heap tagging
Enable application verifier
Debugger (type the path to the installed WinDbg in the text box to the right, for example, C:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows (x64)\windbg.exe -g).
For more details, refer to Heap Corruption, Part 2.
Go to "Control Panel/System and Security/System" (or right-click "Computer" in the Start menu and select "Properties". There click "Advanced system settings", in the displayed dialog, go to "Advanced" tab and click the "Environment Variables" button. In the displayed dialog, add a new System variable (if you are an system administrator - a User variable otherwise - you need need to logout/login in this case). The required variable is "COMPLUS_HeapVerify" with a value of "1". More details can be found in Stack Overflow question .NET/C#: How to set debugging environment variable COMPLUS_HeapVerify?.
Now we are ready to start debugging. Start the application. WinDbg should start automatically for it. Leave the application running until it crashes into WinDgb and then examine the dump.
TIP: To quickly remove Global Flags, Application Verifier and the debugger attachment settings, delete the following key in the registry:
x64 - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\*YourAppName*
Step 4. Enable MDAs.
Try to use the Managed Debugging Assistants. Details are in Stack Overflow question What MDAs are useful to track a heap corruption?.
MDAs must be used along with WinDbg. I used them even along with Global Flags and Application Verifier.
Step 5. Enable GCStress.
Using GCStress is an extreme option, because the application becomes almost unusable, but it is still a way to go. More details are in GCStress: How to turn on in Windows 7?.
Step 6. Compile for x86.
If your application is currently being compiled for "Any CPU" or "x64" platform, try to compile it for "x86" if there is no difference for you which platform to use. I saw this reported to solve the problem for somebody.
Step 7. Disable concurrent GC - this is what worked for me
There is a reported known issue in .NET 4 reported in the thread Access Violation in .NET 4 Runtime in gc_heap::garbage_collect with no unmanaged modules. The problem can be solved by disabling the concurrent GC in the app.config file:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
<runtime>
<gcConcurrent enabled="false" />
</runtime>
</configuration>
You have managed heap corruption. It is not easy to find the root cause of the problem for managed heap corruption, because the problem usually demonstrates itself long after the heap is corrupted. In your case, the StringBuilder is a red herring. Corruption happened sometime before.
What I would do is the following:
Check if you have any unsafe C# code. If you have any, double check the logic there.
Enable paged heap for your application. Running it with paged heap will help uncover problems with unmanaged code -- in case unmanaged code is corrupting the managed heap.
Run !VerifyHeap in different places. This way you might be able to localize the place in your code where corruption happens.
If you have the server type of garbage collection enabled for your application, temporarily change that to workstation garbage collection -- you will get more predictable behavior this way.
Read through Tesses' blog post .NET Crash: Managed Heap Corruption calling unmanaged code. It demonstrates some examples of managed heap corruption.
Note that when you will be running your code under WinDbg, you will come across occasional first chance AV. It is safe to ingore that, just type sxd av once you attach WinDbg to the process, and investigate only second chance AVs.
Related
I'm relatively new to WinDbg, so I'm hoping this is just something obvious I'm missing. I have a .NET assembly that contains the function calls InitializeProcThreadAttributeList, UpdateProcThreadAttribute and DeleteProcThreadAttributeList, defined using P/Invoke. All three of those functions are imported from the "kernel32.dll" library. My goal is to trace these functions to understand the ntdll sys calls being used.
I tried to set a breakpoint with this command:
bp KERNEL32!InitializeProcThreadAttributeList
, but got this error:
Couldn't resolve error at 'KERNEL32!InitializeProcThreadAttributeList'
Next, I searched for any sign of this function using the following command:
x kernel32!*procthread*
I got this reply:
00007ffd`c7598588 KERNEL32!_imp_InitializeProcThreadAttributeList = <no type information>
I then tried to set a breakpoint on this stub? function like this:
bp kernel32!_imp_InitializeProcThreadAttributeList
Although it says the breakpoint has been defined, when I continue execution, it errors with this:
Unable to insert breakpoint 0 at 00007ffd`c7598588, Win32 error 0n998
"Invalid access to memory location."
I also tried setting the breakpoint with "bu", but that produced the same error.
Does anyone know how to set a breakpoint in this situation? Thank you in advance!
Most of the functions in kernel32 have been implemented in kernelbase.dll
and kernel32 only contains a thunk
the telltale sign is the IMP denoting imported from
_imp_InitializeProcThreadAttributeList
try setting bp kernelbase!InitializeProcThreadAttributeList
0:000> x /v kernel32!InitializeProcThreadAttributeList
pub func 761f4fc1 0 kernel32!InitializeProcThreadAttributeList (<no parameter info>)
0:000> u kernel32!InitializeProcThreadAttributeList l1
kernel32!InitializeProcThreadAttributeList:
761f4fc1 ff25c0181476 jmp dword ptr [kernel32!_imp__InitializeProcThreadAttributeList (761418c0)]
0:000> ? poi(kernel32!_imp__InitializeProcThreadAttributeList)
Evaluate expression: 1978493618 = 75ed6ab2
0:000> ln poi(kernel32!_imp__InitializeProcThreadAttributeList)
Exact matches:
KERNELBASE!InitializeProcThreadAttributeList (<no parameter info>)
0:000> bp poi(kernel32!_imp__InitializeProcThreadAttributeList)
0:000> bl
0 e 75ed6ab2 0001 (0001) 0:**** KERNELBASE!InitializeProcThreadAttributeList
I'm debugging the source code for mscorlib1 with WinDbg/SOS. I'm curious, is it possible to get the managed function name if you see its address in assembly? For example, this is some of the code I'm seeing in the disassembly window:
00007ffd`7f035d7c 488d0d3d3af5ff lea rcx,[System_Private_CoreLib_ni+0x8797c0 (00007ffd`7ef897c0)]
00007ffd`7f035d83 e890728eff call System_Private_CoreLib_ni+0x20d018 (00007ffd`7e91d018)
00007ffd`7f035d88 488bf0 mov rsi,rax
00007ffd`7f035d8b b9874a0000 mov ecx,4A87h
00007ffd`7f035d90 e8834a91ff call System_Private_CoreLib_ni+0x23a818 (00007ffd`7e94a818)
00007ffd`7f035d95 488bc8 mov rcx,rax
00007ffd`7f035d98 e87356b9ff call System_Private_CoreLib_ni+0x4bb410 (00007ffd`7ebcb410)
00007ffd`7f035d9d 488bd0 mov rdx,rax
00007ffd`7f035da0 488bce mov rcx,rsi
00007ffd`7f035da3 e8e89fbdff call System_Private_CoreLib_ni+0x4ffd90 (00007ffd`7ec0fd90)
I want to find out what the names of some of these functions being call-ed are. I figure the command to use for this would be !dumpmd, but none of these commands seem to work:
!dumpmd 0x20d018
!dumpmd e890728eff
!dumpmd 00007ffd`7e91d018
All of them respond with "... is not a MethodDesc". How then can I get the managed function name from the assembly, or is it not possible?
1 mscorlib was recently renamed System.Private.CoreLib for .NET Core, so that's why you see that instead of mscorlib_ni.
!dumpmd 0x20d018
can't work, because you only pass the offset relative to the module. Without specifying the module (System_Private_CoreLib_ni), !dumpmd cannot know what you're referring to.
!dumpmt e890728eff
can't work, because you pass machine code to !dumpmt. e8 is the machine code for the assembly instruction call and the rest is a relative offset. To interpret that, !dumpmt would need to know the address of the instruction so that it can calculate the address of the method being called.
!dumpmt 00007ffd`7e91d018
could at least be plausible, because you pass an absolute address. That is a meaningful address. But it's not the address of a method table which !dumpmt expects.
With a given native address, you can use
!IP2MD <Code address> Displays the MethodDesc structure at the specified address in code that has been JIT-compiled.
Actually the command will display much more, including the method name.
0:000> !ip2md 001fce80
MethodDesc: 00508ab4
Method Name: ReporterCmd.Program+<>c..cctor()
Class: 0025e10c
MethodTable: 00508ad0
mdToken: 06000027
Module: 00193fbc
IsJitted: yes
CodeAddr: 001fce48
Transparency: Critical
The sosex (download) command !mln as implemented by #Steve Johnson and mentioned in his answer is really helpful, since it will auto detect the nearest useful thing, so you needn't know in detail what you have.
0:000> !mln 001fce80
Method instance: (BEGIN=001fce48)(MD=00508ab4 disassemble)[ReporterCmd.Program+<>c..cctor()]
If you're learning about .NET internals, I recommend using !mln and then finding out how to get the same results using other methods so that you know about the relationship of things.
Pass the entire address to !sosex.mln
My understanding is that with crash dump of debug build you can get the line number of stack trace and this does not happen with release build. In order to try this, I created a very simple application that crashes.
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine("Press any key to continue");
Console.ReadKey();
TestMe(null);
}
static void TestMe(MyClass c)
{
Console.WriteLine(c.Field);
}
}
class MyClass
{
public string Field { get; set; }
}
I created one debug build and one release build. Ran both of these and catpured crash dump via ADPlus. Below are the stack traces for each build. As you can see I am getting the line number in both builds. Obviously difference is that in release build its not reporting call to TestMe method. Any ideas why? Do I need add symbol path to application pdb files in both cases
Debug build
0:000> !CLRStack
OS Thread Id: 0x2398 (0)
Child SP IP Call Site
001eee74 003400db ConsoleApplication1.Program.TestMe(ConsoleApplication1.MyClass)*** WARNING: Unable to verify checksum for ConsoleApplication1.exe
[c:\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\Program.cs # 20]
001eee84 003400a5 ConsoleApplication1.Program.Main(System.String[]) [c:\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\Program.cs # 14]
001ef0c8 6ccb21bb [GCFrame: 001ef0c8]
Release build
0:000> !CLRStack
OS Thread Id: 0x2e40 (0)
Child SP IP Call Site
003bf5f8 772af8c1 [GCFrame: 003bf5f8] Unknown
003bf3b4 002b0098 ConsoleApplication1.Program.Main(System.String[])*** WARNING: Unable to verify checksum for ConsoleApplication1.exe
[c:\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\Program.cs # 14]
003bf5f8 6ccb21bb [GCFrame: 003bf5f8]
In the release build, the JIT compiler is no doubt inlining the method call - that's why the line number is different.
I'm interested in viewing the actual x86 assembly output by a C# program (not the CLR bytecode instructions). Is there a good way to do this?
While debugging your application in Visual Studio, you can right-click on a code where you have stopped (using breakpoint) and click "Go to Disassembly". You can debug through native instructions.
As for doing that with *.exe files on disk, maybe you could use NGen to generate native output and then disassemble it (although I never tried that, so I can't guarantee that it will work).
Here are some sample opcodes from simple arithmetic operation that was written in c#:
int x = 5;
mov dword ptr [ebp-40h],5
int y = 6;
mov dword ptr [ebp-44h],6
int z = x + y;
mov eax,dword ptr [ebp-40h]
add eax,dword ptr [ebp-44h]
mov dword ptr [ebp-48h],eax
As #IvanDanilov answered, you can use WinDbg and SOS. I am answering separately to provide a walk-through.
In this example, I want to view the disassembly of the AreEqual() method from:
using System;
namespace TestArrayCompare
{
class Program
{
static bool AreEqual(byte[] a1, byte[] a2)
{
bool result = true;
for (int i = 0; i < a1.Length; ++i)
{
if (a1[i] != a2[i])
result = false;
}
return result;
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
byte[] a1 = new byte[100];
byte[] a2 = new byte[100];
if (AreEqual(a1, a2))
{
Console.WriteLine("`a1' equals `a2'.");
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("`a1' does not equal `a2'.");
}
}
}
}
Steps:
Open WinDbg. From the File menu, select "Open Executable...". Browse to the location of the EXE (in my case, C:\Users\Daniel\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\TestArrayCompare\TestArrayCompare\bin\Release\TestArrayCompare.exe).
Add the directory containing the PDB file to the symbol path. For example:
.sympath "C:\Users\Daniel\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\TestArrayCompare\TestArrayCompare\bin\Release"
In WinDbg's Command window, set a breakpoint when clr.dll is loaded via:
sxe ld:clr
Continue by running the 'Go' command: g
At the clr.dll ModLoad, load SOS: .loadby sos clr
Run BPMD to break on the method for which you wish to see the disassembly. For example:
0:000> !BPMD TestArrayCompare.exe TestArrayCompare.Program.AreEqual
Adding pending breakpoints...
Continue again by running the 'Go' command: g
Run Name2EE to see the method descriptor. For example:
0:000> !Name2EE TestArrayCompare.exe TestArrayCompare.Program.AreEqual
Module: 00a62edc
Assembly: TestArrayCompare.exe
Token: 06000001
MethodDesc: 00a637a4
Name: TestArrayCompare.Program.AreEqual(Byte[], Byte[])
Not JITTED yet. Use !bpmd -md 00a637a4 to break on run.
Run the BPMD command in the "Not JITTED yet" line. For example:
0:000> !bpmd -md 00a637a4
MethodDesc = 00a637a4
Adding pending breakpoints...
Continue again: g
You should see "JITTED ..." in the Command window. Re-run the Name2EE command to see the address of the JIT code. For example:
0:000> !Name2EE TestArrayCompare.exe TestArrayCompare.Program.AreEqual
Module: 00a62edc
Assembly: TestArrayCompare.exe
Token: 06000001
MethodDesc: 00a637a4
Name: TestArrayCompare.Program.AreEqual(Byte[], Byte[])
JITTED Code Address: 00b500c8
Use the u command to disassemble, starting at the listed code address. For example:
0:000> u 00b500c8 L20
00b500c8 55 push ebp
00b500c9 8bec mov ebp,esp
00b500cb 57 push edi
00b500cc 56 push esi
...
(For the above, I was using WinDbg 6.3.9600.17200 X86 from the Windows 8.1 SDK.)
One handy reference is the SOS.dll (SOS Debugging Extension) reference page on MSDN.
You should use WinDbg with SOS/SOSEX, ensure that method you want to see x86 code for is JITted in method tables and then see actual unassembly with u command. Thus you would see actual code.
As others mentioned here, with ngen you could see code that is not exactly matches actual JIT compilation result. With Visual Studio it is also possible because JIT's compilation depends heavily on the fact if debugger is present or not.
UPD: Some clarification. WinDbg is a debugger also, but it is native one.
Here you can read about the technique in detail.
You could use Visual Studio Debugger by placing a breakpoint and then viewing the Dissassembly window (Alt+Ctrl+D) or try the Native Image Generator Tool (ngen.exe).
You can do a memory dump. However, note that the in-memory code does not necessarily contain every method.
ngen does AOT, or Ahead-of-time code generation, which can be different from JIT code.
I am having very hard times using WinDbg to track a simple object reference in a C# Forms App.
I have found a very nice tuto by Chris Lovett : GCRoot Demo on using "SOS" in VS' Immediate Window
Unfortunately, I am debugging an x64 App and recompiling my App into 32-bit will bias the test conditions I am willing to recreate. Trying to load SOS in an x64 Assembly results, as expected, in the following error :
Error during command: extension C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\sos.dll could not load (error 193)
So, as WinDbg seems to manage x64, that's the way to go for me. However, getting it to work with managed code is not a straightforward task.
Putting a simple breakpoint into the attached source results, unsurprisingly, into the following error :
Unable to insert breakpoint 0 at 00000000 010e000f, Win32 error 0n998
"Invalid access to memory location."
This is consistent with the guidelines given by Naveen Srinivasan.on his Blog
However, when I try to use the ” sxe ld” / “.loadby sos” / ”.load sosex" workarounds suggested in that same web page, I get the following error :
The call to LoadLibrary(sos) failed, Win32 error 0n2
The system cannot find the file specified.
So I guess the latter commands are also SOS-related
I have also tried to follow an older post from Eran Sandler which explains exactly how to proceed to set a breakpoint in WinDbg for Managed Code. But I am suspecting the name2ee command he is using to be "SOS" specific, thus making it rather unusable in my case (I am getting same kind of LoadLibrary error).
I am really confused and helpless here. I feel I am bumping on walls whatever direction I take. I am two inches far from giving up and recompiling the whole App into 32-bit to debug it, as I've already lost almost 2 working days on this.
All this is only the first step towards what I want to achieve, which is to track all the references to a "Trackee" object in a more complex App, using gcroot.
Than you for your help.
Dummy Sample code : DebugTest.cs :
namespace DebugTest
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
String Trackee;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
Trackee = "Where is Charlie";
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
label1.Text = Trackee; // << Trying to put a breakpoint here
}
}
}
ANSWER : Walkthrough
1 - "loadby sos.dll clr" makes it possible to call all SOS stuff. (including "name2ee" command to follow Eran Sandler's steps.)
2 - The following command puts a breakpoint efficiently into the Managed code of some method. Example:
!bpmd DebugTEst.exe DebugTest.Form1.button1_Click
3 - I am still unable to have a real visual debugger behavior as break point is hit logically as shown in the command window, but not visually in source window.
4 - By affecting to Trackee a specific Type (MyString, for ex.) I was able to track the Object's adress using !DumpHeap -type myString
which give the following ouput :
Address MT Size
0000000002bd33e0 000007ff000581d0 24
5 - Then after performing a load vgcroot and !vgcroot 0000000002bd33e0 C:\graph.dgml I was able to find and visualize all the references to my Trackee.