"free(): invalid pointer" when running on Ubuntu x86_64 and Node.js >= v20.12.0

[kraenhansen]

[!NOTE] If you're seeing "free(): invalid pointer" when running on Ubuntu x86_64, a valid workaround is downgrading Node.js to v20.11.1

Description

See for more information https://github.com/realm/realm-core/issues/7604.

The coverage tests started crashing around March 26th, by the release of Node.js v20.12.0.

Here's an example of a failing run: https://github.com/realm/realm-js/actions/runs/8552406490/job/23433443919?pr=6587

There seem to be two issues:

• The crash itself, which originates from Core (see #7604)
• The npm run ci:coverage process exits cleanly, which is unexpected from a crash.

I've reproduced the crash on these Realm JS commits:

• 2796745c674732bdfc45d460924c6dfefc84c720 (Realm Core 14.5.1)
• e15db6016513ac37996286abde4c44a14e98268c (Realm Core 13.26.0)
• 89687764c65f17b0a43b6a20d80a07be8063b0ce (Realm Core 13.25.1)
• 42651be546db8ea6830e9da30a11673c0bfce8c8 (Realm Core 13.25.0)

Stacktrace & log output

free(): invalid pointer

[sync-by-unito[bot]]

➤ PM Bot commented:

Jira ticket: RJS-2790

[kraenhansen]

This might have been the cause: https://github.com/realm/realm-core/issues/7434 🤞

[kraenhansen]

I've created https://github.com/realm/realm-core/issues/7604 with more information on the root cause of this crash.

[kraenhansen]

Regarding the uncorrect exit code when the subprocess spawed by nyc crashes, I've found these issues and PR that I believe is related:

• https://github.com/istanbuljs/nyc/issues/798
• https://github.com/istanbuljs/nyc/issues/1535
• https://github.com/istanbuljs/nyc/pull/1546