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@gabsuren gabsuren commented Oct 28, 2025

TODO - Will remove comments after the review ( left it for easier review)

Description

This PR fixes critical memory leaks and crashes in the ESP WebSocket client that occur during reconnection scenarios(CONFIG_ESP_WS_CLIENT_SEPARATE_TX_LOCK = y).

  • Double-free crashes: Heap corruption during abort/reconnect scenarios
  • Data loss: First packet after reconnection not received
  • Error buffer accumulation: 2KB memory leak on disconnect

Changes Made:

  • Add state check in abort_connection to prevent double-close
  • Fix memory leak: free errormsg_buffer on disconnect
  • Reset connection state on reconnect to prevent stale data
  • Implement lock ordering for separate TX lock mode
  • Added sdkconfig.ci.tx_lock conf

Related

#898

Checklist

Before submitting a Pull Request, please ensure the following:

  • 🚨 This PR does not introduce breaking changes.
  • [ ✓ ] All CI checks (GH Actions) pass.
  • [ ✓] Documentation is updated as needed.
  • Tests are updated or added as necessary.
  • [ ✓] Code is well-commented, especially in complex areas.
  • [ ✓] Git history is clean — commits are squashed to the minimum necessary.

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CLAassistant commented Oct 28, 2025

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@gabsuren gabsuren changed the title Fix/ws race on abort fix(websocket): Fix websocket client race on abort and memory leak(IDFGH-16555) Oct 28, 2025
@gabsuren gabsuren force-pushed the fix/ws_race_on_abort branch 3 times, most recently from 67bd7e3 to 46871bf Compare October 28, 2025 13:09
#else
// When separate TX lock is not configured, we already hold client->lock
// which protects the transport, so we can send PONG directly
esp_transport_ws_send_raw(client->transport, WS_TRANSPORT_OPCODES_PONG | WS_TRANSPORT_OPCODES_FIN, data, client->payload_len,

Check warning

Code scanning / clang-tidy

The value '138' provided to the cast expression is not in the valid range of values for 'ws_transport_opcodes' [clang-analyzer-optin.core.EnumCastOutOfRange] Warning

The value '138' provided to the cast expression is not in the valid range of values for 'ws_transport_opcodes' [clang-analyzer-optin.core.EnumCastOutOfRange]
@gabsuren gabsuren requested a review from david-cermak October 29, 2025 09:09
@gabsuren gabsuren force-pushed the fix/ws_race_on_abort branch from 46871bf to 5577e03 Compare October 29, 2025 10:54
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@gabsuren gabsuren force-pushed the fix/ws_race_on_abort branch 2 times, most recently from 082b119 to bff5cbe Compare October 29, 2025 12:28
- Add state check in abort_connection to prevent double-close
- Fix memory leak: free errormsg_buffer on disconnect
- Reset connection state on reconnect to prevent stale data
- Implement lock ordering for separate TX lock mode
- Added sdkconfig.ci.tx_lock config
@gabsuren gabsuren force-pushed the fix/ws_race_on_abort branch from ca2956e to 0e58789 Compare October 30, 2025 10:53
{
ESP_WS_CLIENT_STATE_CHECK(TAG, client, return ESP_FAIL);

// Note: This function must be called with client->lock already held
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If this is a pre-condition for the function, should we add a guard here? If a guard isn't possible this must be documented to user and not be a comment inside the function.

esp_websocket_client_dispatch_event(client, WEBSOCKET_EVENT_DISCONNECTED, NULL, 0);

if (client->errormsg_buffer) {
ESP_LOGI(TAG, "Freeing error buffer (%d bytes) - Free heap: %" PRIu32 " bytes",
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This should be Debug or verbose level.

client->errormsg_buffer = NULL;
client->errormsg_size = 0;
} else {
ESP_LOGI(TAG, "Disconnect - Free heap: %" PRIu32 " bytes", esp_get_free_heap_size());
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Same here.

}
ESP_LOGD(TAG, "Calling abort_connection due to send error");
#ifdef CONFIG_ESP_WS_CLIENT_SEPARATE_TX_LOCK
xSemaphoreGiveRecursive(client->tx_lock);
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It is better to move this verification to abort connection function.

const char *data = (client->payload_len == 0) ? NULL : client->rx_buffer;
ESP_LOGD(TAG, "Sending PONG with payload len=%d", client->payload_len);
#ifdef CONFIG_ESP_WS_CLIENT_SEPARATE_TX_LOCK
// CRITICAL: To avoid deadlock, we must follow lock ordering: tx_lock BEFORE client->lock
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These comments are unnecessary.

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4 participants