VirtualBox 2.0.6 crashes on Copy (before any Paste) -> fixed in SVN

[Patrick Decat]

Copying text on the host side frequently crashes the guest.

Here's the dmesg log:

[174179.337994] VirtualBox[31593]: segfault at 9ed52ec ip b7d1abee sp b40fbd0c error 4 in libc-2.8.90.so[b7caa000+158000]

Some information about my system:

$ uname -a
Linux mydesktop 2.6.27-10-generic #1 SMP Fri Nov 21 12:00:22 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

$ cat /etc/issue
Ubuntu 8.10 \n \l

$ cat /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian intrepid non-free

I've started my VM with :

$ echo -n 1 | sudo tee /proc/sys/fs/suid_dumpable
$ ulimit -c unlimited
$ /usr/lib/virtualbox/VirtualBox -startvm "Windows"

and will post my coredump when I get one.

Regards, Patrick.

[Michael Thayer]

A core dump would be very helpful, thanks! I take it from the information above that you are using the Intrepid debs from Sun.

[Patrick Decat]

That's it:

$ apt-cache show virtualbox-2.0 
Package: virtualbox-2.0
Version: 2.0.6-39765_Ubuntu_intrepid
Architecture: i386
Maintainer: Sun Microsystems, Inc. <info@virtualbox.org>
Installed-Size: 64036
Pre-Depends: debconf (>= 1.1) | debconf-2.0
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4), libgcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1), libqt4-network (>= 4.4.3), libqtcore4 (>= 4.4.3), libqtgui4 (>= 4.4.3), libsdl1.2debian (>= 1.2.10-1), libssl0.9.8 (>= 0.9.8f-5), libstdc++6 (>= 4.2.1), libx11-6, libxcursor1 (>> 1.1.2), libxext6, libxml2 (>= 2.6.27), libxslt1.1 (>= 1.1.18), libxt6, python2.5 (>= 2.5), psmisc, adduser
Recommends: libasound2, libpulse0, libsdl-ttf2.0-0, dkms, linux-headers, gcc, make, binutils, bridge-utils, uml-utilities, libhal1 (>= 0.5), pdf-viewer
Conflicts: virtualbox
Replaces: virtualbox
Provides: virtualbox
Priority: optional
Section: misc
Filename: pool/non-free/v/virtualbox-2.0/virtualbox-2.0_2.0.6-39765_Ubuntu_intrepid_i386.deb
Size: 30152018
SHA1: bdda18265f9c0f21a22a0cd2cb8acbff23879f8c
MD5sum: c5653bbabed78fb97858e127375cd6cd
Description: Sun xVM VirtualBox
 VirtualBox is a powerful PC virtualization solution allowing you to run a
 wide range of PC operating systems on your Linux system. This includes
 Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, DOS, OpenBSD and others. VirtualBox comes with a broad
 feature set and excellent performance, making it the premier virtualization
 software solution on the market.

I just noticed it crashes in different places, so there may be several problems:

[75836.026152] VirtualBox[5887]: segfault at 90 ip b5f93c06 sp b419a250 error 6 in VBoxC.so[b5f1f000+9b000]
[90152.398766] VirtualBox[12883]: segfault at 94 ip b6061c06 sp b4257250 error 6 in VBoxC.so[b5fed000+9b000]
[95994.162673] VirtualBox[26127]: segfault at 11e ip b6099c06 sp b428f250 error 6 in VBoxC.so[b6025000+9b000]
[174179.337994] VirtualBox[31593]: segfault at 9ed52ec ip b7d1abee sp b40fbd0c error 4 in libc-2.8.90.so[b7caa000+158000]

[Patrick Decat]

Another crash :

[145406.931335] VirtualBox[6174]: segfault at a2 ip b6042c06 sp b4238250 error 6 in VBoxC.so[b5fce000+9b000]

No coredump for now, as I rebooted recently and restarted VirtualBox but forgot to relaunch it so that I would get one...

[Patrick Decat]

Could that be related to the fact that my Windows guest is running the Sun xVM virtualbox Guest Additions version 2.0.2 ? How can I upgrade this component?

[Michael Thayer]

Nothing the guest can do should cause segfaults on the host, but you can upgrade the additions by following the instructions in the user manual.

[Frank Mehnert]

Sorry, without a core dump it is really difficult to find the reason.

[Michael Thayer]

For what it is worth, though, that looks like the line '*ppMsg = pMsg;' in 'int HGCMThread::MsgGet (HGCMMsgCore ppMsg)'.

[Patrick Decat]

I just got another crash :

[493577.539451] VirtualBox[11733]: segfault at a0 ip b6003c06 sp b420a250 error 6 in VBoxC.so[b5f8f000+9b000]

This time, I ended up with a 600MB core file. As it may contain some sensible information, I'd rather not publish it on a public address. How should I send it to you ?

[Patrick Decat]

Core file virtualbox-2.0.6-39765_Ubuntu_intrepid_i386-core.11723.bz2 uploaded

[Frank Mehnert]

One additional question: Did you ever tried an older version of VirtualBox, that is, did you ever saw a clipboard crash with VirtualBox 2.0.4?

[Patrick Decat]

I have previously been using versions 2.0.2 and 2.0.4 without ever seeing such a crash.

[Frank Mehnert]

Interesting. How likely is it that this bug just did not show up with 2.0.4? Did you use 2.0.4 as extensive as you are using version 2.0.6?

[Patrick Decat]

I've been using VirtualBox-2 several hours per day since september 23rd 2008.

Here's my virtualbox installation history on this box :

$ zgrep virtualbox /var/log/aptitude*
/var/log/aptitude.3.gz:[INSTALLED] virtualbox-2.0
/var/log/aptitude.2.gz:[UPDATED] virtualbox-2.0 2.0.2-36488_Ubuntu_hardy -> 2.0.4-38406_Ubuntu_hardy
/var/log/aptitude.1.gz:[UPDATED] virtualbox-2.0 2.0.4-38406_Ubuntu_hardy -> 2.0.4-38406_Ubuntu_intrepid
/var/log/aptitude.1.gz:[UPDATED] virtualbox-2.0 2.0.4-38406_Ubuntu_intrepid -> 2.0.6-39765_Ubuntu_intrepid

[Patrick Decat]

Yet another crash :

[669422.877158] VirtualBox[11002]: segfault at 98f3c24 ip b7d3ebee sp b411fd1c error 4 in libc-2.8.90.so[b7cce000+158000]

Could that be related to the fact that I also have a ​Synergy server on the host that interacts with the clipboard?

[Patrick Decat]

Core file virtualbox-2.0.6-39765_Ubuntu_intrepid_i386-core.10976.bz2 is being uploaded

[Patrick Decat]

And another one:

[678436.499113] VirtualBox[11740]: segfault at 118 ip b6063c06 sp b426a250 error 6 in VBoxC.so[b5fef000+9b000]

[Frank Mehnert]

Patrick, do you still have the VBox.log file available which was generated when you got the 2nd core dump you uploaded today? Or do you have a VBox.log file available from any of such crashes?

[Patrick Decat]

Sure, log files uploaded as virtualbox-2.0.6-39765_Ubuntu_intrepid_i386-p2k-Logs.tar.bz2.

[Patrick Decat]

Another one:

[758527.873844] VirtualBox[26096]: segfault at 3f3c ip b5ff5c06 sp b40ff250 error 6 in VBoxC.so[b5f81000+9b000]

[sunlover]

Patrick, the problem could be indeed caused by the old guest additions. Please upgrade them to 2.0.6. Check the UserManual "4.2.1 Installing the Windows Guest Additions".

[Patrick Decat]

Alright, I've upgraded the guest additions to 2.0.6.

[Patrick Decat]

Crash on another Ubuntu 8.10 system with a fresh Windows XP install and 2.0.6 version of guest additions software:

[496412.165812] VirtualBox[1999]: segfault at f0 ip b605dc06 sp b4253250 error 6 in VBoxC.so[b5fe9000+9b000]

FWIW, synergy is not installed on this system.

[Patrick Decat]

And another one:

[497308.183643] VirtualBox[20925]: segfault at 8cc ip b6088c06 sp b427e250 error 6 in VBoxC.so[b6014000+9b000]

[Patrick Decat]

Another crash on copy/paste:

[73487.079557] VirtualBox[6147]: segfault at 42 ip b5fafc06 sp b41b6250 error 6 in VBoxC.so[b5f3b000+9b000]

[Patrick Decat]

I just upgraded to VirtualBox 2.1.0 and also have updated my guest additions:

$ apt-cache show virtualbox-2.1
Package: virtualbox-2.1
Version: 2.1.0-41146_Ubuntu_intrepid
Architecture: i386
Maintainer: Sun Microsystems, Inc. <info@virtualbox.org>
Installed-Size: 70780
Pre-Depends: debconf (>= 1.1) | debconf-2.0
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4), libcap1, libgcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1), libqt4-network (>= 4.4.3), libqtcore4 (>= 4.4.3), libqtgui4 (>= 4.4.3), libsdl1.2debian (>= 1.2.10-1), libssl0.9.8 (>= 0.9.8f-5), libstdc++6 (>= 4.2.1), libx11-6, libxcursor1 (>> 1.1.2), libxext6, libxml2 (>= 2.6.27), libxmu6, libxslt1.1 (>= 1.1.18), libxt6, python2.5 (>= 2.5), psmisc, adduser
Recommends: libasound2, libpulse0, libsdl-ttf2.0-0, dkms, linux-headers, gcc, make, binutils, libhal1 (>= 0.5), pdf-viewer, libgl1
Conflicts: virtualbox
Replaces: virtualbox
Provides: virtualbox
Priority: optional
Section: misc
Filename: pool/non-free/v/virtualbox-2.1/virtualbox-2.1_2.1.0-41146_Ubuntu_intrepid_i386.deb
Size: 35961446
SHA1: f2a183b63118621cec97ac81d6eeb4ea9ce99c6f
MD5sum: 4c12e11beabaab9b5b9f2bc3b2c45645
Description: Sun xVM VirtualBox

I'll keep you informed if crashes still occur.

Regards, Patrick.

[Michael Thayer]

I would certainly be interested to know. We haven't actually done anything yet that would be likely to fix this, but I suspect that it is timing-related, so 2.10 may still make it go away.

[Michael Thayer]

I hope that the latest SVN sources (publicly available as of tonight sometime) will fix this issue.