skype crashes with *** glibc detected *** /usr/bin/skype.real: double free or corruption (fasttop): 0xf3148548 ***

[Eemil Lagerspetz]

Skype was being used through pidgin Skype plugin. After Skype crashed, the plugin said "Skype program closed".
Here is the crash log:

*** glibc detected *** /usr/bin/skype.real: double free or corruption (fasttop): 0xf3148548 ***
======= Backtrace: =========
/lib32/libc.so.6[0xf6eb0204]
/lib32/libc.so.6(cfree+0x96)[0xf6eb21e6]
/usr/lib32/libX11.so.6[0xf6d926ce]
/usr/lib32/libX11.so.6(_XReply+0x10d)[0xf6d92ccd]
/usr/lib32/libXss.so.1(XScreenSaverQueryInfo+0x96)[0xf7eae506]
/usr/bin/skype.real[0x8648892]
======= Memory map: ========
08048000-08c8a000 rwxp 00000000 09:02 8282741 /usr/bin/skype.real
08c8a000-08d81000 rwxp 00c41000 09:02 8282741 /usr/bin/skype.real
08d81000-08dc1000 rwxp 08d81000 00:00 0
0a2ce000-0b847000 rwxp 0a2ce000 00:00 0 [heap]
ed3b8000-ed3cd000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 10150997 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-tamil-fonts/TSCu_paranarb.ttf
ed3cd000-ed3dd000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 10150437 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-tamil-fonts/TSCu_Paranar.ttf
ed3dd000-edb47000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 10141698 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/kochi/kochi-gothic-subst.ttf
edb47000-ededd000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 10142409 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/vlgothic/VL-Gothic-Regular.ttf
ededd000-efe16000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 9569701 /usr/local/share/fonts/odosung.ttc
efe16000-efe23000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 10150426 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-gujarati-fonts/padmaa-Medium-0.5.ttf
efe23000-efe51000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 10150129 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-indic-fonts-core/MuktiNarrow.ttf
efe51000-efe65000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 10144894 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/thai/Waree.ttf
efe65000-f127a000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 10141707 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/arphic/uming.ttc
f127a000-f268f000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 10141707 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/arphic/uming.ttc
f268f000-f271b000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 10150134 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-dejavu/DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf
f271b000-f27b3000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 10150131 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf
f27b3000-f27b4000 ---p f27b3000 00:00 0
f27b4000-f2fb4000 rwxp f27b4000 00:00 0
f2fb4000-f30e7000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 4505740 /lib32/i686/cmov/libcrypto.so.0.9.8
f30e7000-f30ef000 r-xp 00132000 09:02 4505740 /lib32/i686/cmov/libcrypto.so.0.9.8
f30ef000-f30fc000 rwxp 0013a000 09:02 4505740 /lib32/i686/cmov/libcrypto.so.0.9.8
f30fc000-f3100000 rwxp f30fc000 00:00 0
f3100000-f3172000 rwxp f3100000 00:00 0
f3172000-f3200000 ---p f3172000 00:00 0
f323f000-f3290000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 10150180 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-dejavu/DejaVuSans-ExtraLight.ttf
f3290000-f32d2000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 4505741 /lib32/i686/cmov/libssl.so.0.9.8
f32d2000-f32d3000 r-xp 00041000 09:02 4505741 /lib32/i686/cmov/libssl.so.0.9.8
f32d3000-f32d6000 rwxp 00042000 09:02 4505741 /lib32/i686/cmov/libssl.so.0.9.8
f3300000-f3400000 rwxp f3300000 00:00 0
f3422000-f447e000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 10141794 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/arphic/ukai.ttc
f447e000-f447f000 ---p f447e000 00:00 0
f447f000-f4c7f000 rwxp f447f000 00:00 0
f4c7f000-f4c80000 ---p f4c7f000 00:00 0
f4c80000-f4d00000 rwxp f4c80000 00:00 0
f4d00000-f4e00000 rwxp f4d00000 00:00 0
f4e0f000-f4e21000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 4505709 /lib32/libresolv-2.9.so
f4e21000-f4e22000 r-xp 00011000 09:02 4505709 /lib32/libresolv-2.9.so
f4e22000-f4e23000 rwxp 00012000 09:02 4505709 /lib32/libresolv-2.9.so
f4e23000-f4e25000 rwxp f4e23000 00:00 0
f4e25000-f4e69000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 10149946 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/msttcorefonts/Arial.ttf
f4e69000-f50b8000 rwxp f4e69000 00:00 0
f50b8000-f50b9000 ---p f50b8000 00:00 0
f50b9000-f5139000 rwxp f50b9000 00:00 0
f5139000-f513a000 ---p f513Aborted

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
CrashDB: medibuntu
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: skype 2.0.0.72-0medibuntu4
ProcEnviron:
 LC_CTYPE=fi_FI.UTF-8
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: skype
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-11-generic x86_64
UnreportableReason: This is not a genuine Ubuntu package

[Eemil Lagerspetz (eemil-lagerspetz)]

The crashes happen every few hours, and not exclusively with the pidgin plugin.

[Eemil Lagerspetz (eemil-lagerspetz)]

I got another crash dump today, without the memory map for some reason:

*** glibc detected *** /usr/bin/skype.real: double free or corruption (fasttop): 0x0aa87620 ***
======= Backtrace: =========
/lib32/libc.so.6[0xf6e14204]
/lib32/libc.so.6(cfree+0x96)[0xf6e161e6]
/usr/lib32/libX11.so.6[0xf6cf66ce]
/usr/lib32/libX11.so.6(_XReply+0x10d)[0xf6cf6ccd]
/usr/lib32/libXss.so.1(XScreenSaverQueryInfo+0x96)[0xf7e12506]
/usr/bin/skype.real[0x8648892]
/usr/bin/skype.real[0x85b4895]
======= Memory map: ========
Aborted

[Eemil Lagerspetz (eemil-lagerspetz)]

Another dump. These have all been recorded on my amd64 Ubuntu Jaunty.

*** glibc detected *** /usr/bin/skype.real: double free or corruption (fasttop): 0x09ce0610 ***
======= Backtrace: =========
/lib32/libc.so.6[0xf6eda204]
/lib32/libc.so.6(cfree+0x96)[0xf6edc1e6]
/usr/lib32/libX11.so.6[0xf6dbb6ce]
/usr/lib32/libX11.so.6(_XReply+0x10d)[0xf6dbbccd]
/usr/lib32/libXss.so.1(XScreenSaverQueryInfo+0x96)[0xf7ed7506]
/usr/bin/skype.real[0x8648892]
/usr/bin/skype.real[0x85b4895]
======= Memory map: ========
08048000-08c8a000 rwxp 00000000 09:02 8282741 /usr/bin/skype.real
08c8a000-08d81000 rwxp 00c41000 09:02 8282741 /usr/bin/skype.real
08d81000-08dc1000 rwxp 08d81000 00:00 0
0996b000-0a9eb000 rwxp 0996b000 00:00 0 [heap]
f2fb3000-f2fb4000 ---p f2fb3000 00:00 0
f2fb4000-f37b4000 rwxp f2fb4000 00:00 0
f37b4000-f38e7000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 4505740 /lib32/i686/cmov/libcrypto.so.0.9.8
f38e7000-f38ef000 r-xp 00132000 09:02 4505740 /lib32/i686/cmov/libcrypto.so.0.9.8
f38ef000-f38fc000 rwxp 0013a000 09:02 4505740 /lib32/i686/cmov/libcrypto.so.0.9.8
f38fc000-f3900000 rwxp f38fc000 00:00 0
f3900000-f3955000 rwxp f3900000 00:00 0
f3955000-f3a00000 ---p f3955000 00:00 0
f3b00000-f3c00000 rwxp f3b00000 00:00 0
f3c34000-f3c76000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 4505741 /lib32/i686/cmov/libssl.so.0.9.8
f3c76000-f3c77000 r-xp 00041000 09:02 4505741 /lib32/i686/cmov/libssl.so.0.9.8
f3c77000-f3c7a000 rwxp 00042000 09:02 4505741 /lib32/i686/cmov/libssl.so.0.9.8
f3c7a000-f4cd6000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 10141794 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/arphic/ukai.ttc
f4cd6000-f4cea000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 10133657 /usr/share/fonts/type1/gsfonts/n019003l.pfb
f4cea000-f4d2e000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 10149946 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/msttcorefonts/Arial.ttf
f4d2e000-f4d2f000 rwxp f4d2e000 00:00 0
f4d2f000-f4d30000 ---p f4d2f000 00:00 0
f4d30000-f5000000 rwxp f4d30000 00:00 0
f5000000-f5100000 rwxp f5000000 00:00 0
f5114000-f5126000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 4505709 /lib32/libresolv-2.9.so
f5126000-f5127000 r-xp 00011000 09:02 4505709 /lib32/libresolv-2.9.so
f5127000-f5128000 rwxp 00012000 09:02 4505709 /lib32/libresolv-2.9.so
f5128000-f512a000 rwxp f5128000 00:00 0
f5154000-f5155000 ---p f5154000 00:00 0
f5155000-f51d5000 rwxp f5155000 00:00 0
f51d5000-f51d6000 ---p f51d5000 00:00 0
f51d6000-f5256000 rwxp f51d6000 00:00 0
f5256000-f5257000 ---p f5256000 00:00 0
f5257000-f52d7000 rwxp f5257000 00:00 0
f52d7000-f52d8000 ---p f52d7000 00:00 0
f52d8000-f5ad8000 rwxp f52d8000 00:00 0
f5ad8000-f5ad9000 ---p f5ad8000 00:00 0
f5ad9000-f5b59000 rwxp f5ad9000 00:00 0
f5b59000-f5b7a000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 10512883 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf
f5b7a000-f5b9b000 r-xp 00000000 09:02 10512886 /usr/share/fonts/truetype...

[Eemil Lagerspetz (eemil-lagerspetz)]

I am now working around this bug by moving away current skype script, with:
sudo dpkg-divert --rename --add /usr/bin/skype
and setting my /usr/bin/skype to:
#!/bin/bash
export MALLOC_CHECK_=0
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/bin/skype.real "$@"
and making it executable:
sudo chmod 755 /usr/bin/skype

[Lionel Le Folgoc (mrpouit)]

Skype has been dropped from Medibuntu (Bug #494564), closing all related tasks.

[Mikel Ward (mikelward)]

I've marked this as also affecting Ubuntu main because the problem still exists. Hope that's OK.

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

It's also invalid against Ubuntu. Ubuntu does not support Skype, it isn't shipped in any of our repositories, and the closed source nature of it means we can't do anything about problems with Skype even if we did ship it. If you're having issues with it then please speak to the vendor instead.