Fix stack overflow from circular alias in traverse (#2647)

go-yaml accepts cross-document alias references, which the YAML spec
forbids (anchors are scoped to a single document). When a nested
assignment targets such an alias, UpdateFrom copies the Alias field
between nodes, creating a self-referencing AliasNode. Both traverse()
and traverseArrayIndices() then follow this cycle indefinitely.

Extract resolveAliasChain(), which follows aliases iteratively with a
visited set and returns an error on cycles. Both traverse() and
traverseArrayIndices() now call it, eliminating the recursive alias
handling in both code paths.

Note: traverseMergeAnchor() also dereferences aliases (lines 358 and
371) but with single-step assignment, not recursion. A self-referencing
alias there falls through the kind switch silently rather than
crashing. Using resolveAliasChain() in that function would produce a
clear error instead of silently dropping the node.

Reproducer (stack overflow before this fix, returns error after):

    echo '&-- a
    ---
    *--' | yq eval-all '. = (.x = 1)'

Found by OSS-Fuzz via the lima project's FuzzEvaluateExpression target.
https://issues.oss-fuzz.com/issues/390467412

Signed-off-by: Jan Dubois <jan@jandubois.com>
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Jan Dubois
2026-04-06 18:25:13 +10:00
committed by GitHub
co-authored by Claude Opus 4.6
parent 2ef934281e
commit 0374ad6b4b
2 changed files with 96 additions and 8 deletions
+65
View File
@@ -665,6 +665,16 @@ var traversePathOperatorScenarios = []expressionScenario{
"D0, P[a], (!!null)::null\n",
},
},
{
// Regression test for https://issues.oss-fuzz.com/issues/390467412
// go-yaml accepts cross-document alias references (invalid per
// YAML spec). A nested assignment on such an alias can create a
// circular alias node, which must not cause a stack overflow.
skipDoc: true,
document: "&-- a\n---\n*--",
expression: ". = (.x = 1)",
expectedError: "alias cycle detected",
},
}
func TestTraversePathOperatorScenarios(t *testing.T) {
@@ -682,3 +692,58 @@ func TestTraversePathOperatorAlignedToSpecScenarios(t *testing.T) {
appendOperatorDocumentScenario(t, "traverse-read", fixedTraversePathOperatorScenarios)
ConfiguredYamlPreferences.FixMergeAnchorToSpec = false
}
// Regression test for https://issues.oss-fuzz.com/issues/390467412
// A circular alias (alias pointing back to itself) must not cause a
// stack overflow. resolveAliasChain should detect the cycle and return
// an error; both traverse() and traverseArrayIndices() use it.
func TestTraverseAliasCycle(t *testing.T) {
aliasNode := &CandidateNode{
Kind: AliasNode,
}
aliasNode.Alias = aliasNode // A -> A
op := &Operation{
OperationType: traversePathOpType,
Value: "key",
StringValue: "key",
Preferences: traversePreferences{},
}
_, err := traverse(Context{}, aliasNode, op)
if err == nil {
t.Fatal("expected error for alias cycle, got nil")
}
if err.Error() != "alias cycle detected" {
t.Fatalf("expected 'alias cycle detected', got %q", err.Error())
}
// Same cycle must be caught through the array traversal path.
_, err = traverseArrayIndices(Context{}, aliasNode, nil, traversePreferences{})
if err == nil {
t.Fatal("expected error for alias cycle via traverseArrayIndices, got nil")
}
if err.Error() != "alias cycle detected" {
t.Fatalf("expected 'alias cycle detected', got %q", err.Error())
}
}
func TestTraverseAliasCycleChain(t *testing.T) {
nodeA := &CandidateNode{Kind: AliasNode}
nodeB := &CandidateNode{Kind: AliasNode}
nodeA.Alias = nodeB
nodeB.Alias = nodeA // A -> B -> A
op := &Operation{
OperationType: traversePathOpType,
Value: "key",
StringValue: "key",
Preferences: traversePreferences{},
}
_, err := traverse(Context{}, nodeA, op)
if err == nil {
t.Fatal("expected error for alias cycle chain, got nil")
}
if err.Error() != "alias cycle detected" {
t.Fatalf("expected 'alias cycle detected', got %q", err.Error())
}
}