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  1. JDK
  2. JDK-8311906

Improve robustness of String constructors with mutable array inputs

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    • b27
    • generic
    • generic
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        A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
        A race condition in the String constructor taking a char[] (and probably other constructors too) allows creating a String with an incorrect coder: A String only containing latin-1 characters, but still encoded using UTF-16.
        This is because in between the constructor checking if the content can be encoded using latin-1 and it being encoded as UTF-16, the content of the passed in array may have changed

        See https://wouter.coekaerts.be/2023/breaking-string

        STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
        Concurrently modify the char[] passed into the String constructor. See example code.

        EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
        EXPECTED -
        A String where .equals and other methods behave correctly
        ACTUAL -
        A String where .equals and other methods are inconsistent with its contents

        ---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
        /**
         * Given a latin-1 String, creates a copy that is
         * incorrectly encoded as UTF-16.
         */
        static String breakIt(String original) {
          if (original.chars().max().orElseThrow() > 256) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                "Can only break latin-1 Strings");
          }

          char[] chars = original.toCharArray();

          // in another thread, flip the first character back
          // and forth between being encodable as latin-1 or not
          Thread thread = new Thread(() -> {
            while (!Thread.interrupted()) {
              chars[0] ^= 256;
            }
          });
          thread.start();

          // at the same time call the String constructor,
          // until we hit the race condition
          while (true) {
            String s = new String(chars);
            if (s.charAt(0) < 256 && !original.equals(s)) {
              thread.interrupt();
              return s;
            }
          }
        }


        String a = "foo";
        String b = breakIt(a);

        // they are not equal to each other
        System.out.println(a.equals(b));
        // => false

        // they do contain the same series of characters
        System.out.println(Arrays.equals(a.toCharArray(),
            b.toCharArray()));
        // => true
        ---------- END SOURCE ----------

        FREQUENCY : always


              rriggs Roger Riggs
              webbuggrp Webbug Group
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                Created:
                Updated:
                Resolved: