Ios – NSURLSession causing EXC_BAD_ACCESS

exc-bad-accessiosnsurlsessionswift

I've noticed that implementing NSURLSessionDataDelegate and starting a task will very occasionally throw an EXC_BAD_ACCESS. The actual calling method that gives the error seems to vary but always comes from CFNetwork. For the most part, the calling method comes from NSURLSession delegate_dataTask:didReceiveData:completionHandler. I've attached two crash logs with different callers below. I've also attached my implementation of NSURLSessionDataDelegate.

Unfortunately I cannot reliably reproduce the error, so I don't have an example script to share. Creating and starting Downloader objects will eventually create the error. It does seem to happen more often with larger files. Have I implemented something wrong here? Is there a good way to debug from this stacktrace?

I've tested on iOS10 and 10.1.1 with the same results.

Implementation:

class Downloader: NSObject, NSURLSessionDataDelegate {
    private let url: String
    var finished = false
    let finishCondition = NSCondition()

    init(url:String) {
        self.url = url
        super.init()
    }

    func start() {
        let config = NSURLSessionConfiguration.defaultSessionConfiguration()
        let session = NSURLSession(configuration: config,
                               delegate: self,
                               delegateQueue: nil)
        guard let u = NSURL(string: url) else {
            return
        }
        let request = NSMutableURLRequest(URL: u)
        let task = session.dataTaskWithRequest(request)
        task.resume()
    }

    func URLSession(session: NSURLSession, dataTask: NSURLSessionDataTask,
                    didReceiveData data: NSData) {
    }

    func URLSession(session: NSURLSession,
                    task: NSURLSessionTask,
                    didCompleteWithError error: NSError?) {
        session.invalidateAndCancel()
    }

    func URLSession(session: NSURLSession, dataTask: NSURLSessionDataTask,
                    didReceiveResponse response: NSURLResponse,
                                       completionHandler: (NSURLSessionResponseDisposition) -> Void) {
        completionHandler(NSURLSessionResponseDisposition.Allow)
    }

    func waitForFinish() {
        finishCondition.lock()
        while !finished {
            finishCondition.wait()
        }
        finishCondition.unlock()
    }

    func URLSession(session: NSURLSession, didBecomeInvalidWithError error: NSError?) {
        finishCondition.lock()
        finished = true
        finishCondition.broadcast()
        finishCondition.unlock()
    }
}

Crash log #1:

* thread #5: tid = 0x25923, 0x0000000100042e8c libBacktraceRecording.dylib`__gcd_queue_item_enqueue_hook_block_invoke, queue = 'com.apple.NSURLSession-work', stop reason = EXC_BAD_ACCESS (code=1, address=0xf8686a68b98c6ec8)
  * frame #0: 0x0000000100042e8c libBacktraceRecording.dylib`__gcd_queue_item_enqueue_hook_block_invoke
    frame #1: 0x000000010004241c libBacktraceRecording.dylib`gcd_queue_item_enqueue_hook + 232
    frame #2: 0x000000010065dee8 libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_introspection_queue_item_enqueue_hook + 40
    frame #3: 0x000000010063cba4 libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_queue_push + 196
    frame #4: 0x000000018ba50500 Foundation`iop_promote_qos_outward + 112
    frame #5: 0x000000018ba4e524 Foundation`-[NSOperation setQualityOfService:] + 168
    frame #6: 0x000000018b9d7714 Foundation`-[NSOperationQueue addOperationWithBlock:] + 76
    frame #7: 0x000000018b73f82c CFNetwork`-[NSURLSession delegate_dataTask:didReceiveData:completionHandler:] + 208
    frame #8: 0x000000018b5a2c5c CFNetwork`-[__NSCFLocalSessionTask _task_onqueue_didReceiveDispatchData:completionHandler:] + 276
    frame #9: 0x000000018b5a5474 CFNetwork`-[__NSCFLocalSessionTask connection:didReceiveData:completion:] + 164
    frame #10: 0x000000018b647bf0 CFNetwork`__48-[__NSCFURLLocalSessionConnection _tick_running]_block_invoke + 120
    frame #11: 0x000000018b647b60 CFNetwork`-[__NSCFURLLocalSessionConnection _tick_running] + 344
    frame #12: 0x000000018b648c74 CFNetwork`-[__NSCFURLLocalSessionConnection _didReceiveData:] + 412
    frame #13: 0x000000018b64af8c CFNetwork`SessionConnectionLoadable::_loaderClientEvent_DidReceiveData(__CFArray const*) + 52
    frame #14: 0x000000018b6f823c CFNetwork`___ZN19URLConnectionLoader19protocolDidLoadDataEPK8__CFDatax_block_invoke_2 + 44
    frame #15: 0x000000018b64b58c CFNetwork`___ZN25SessionConnectionLoadable21withLoaderClientAsyncEU13block_pointerFvP21LoaderClientInterfaceE_block_invoke + 32
    frame #16: 0x000000010063125c libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_call_block_and_release + 24
    frame #17: 0x000000010063121c libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_client_callout + 16
    frame #18: 0x000000010063eb54 libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_queue_serial_drain + 1136
    frame #19: 0x0000000100634ce4 libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_queue_invoke + 672
    frame #20: 0x0000000100640e6c libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_root_queue_drain + 584
    frame #21: 0x0000000100640bb8 libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_worker_thread3 + 140
    frame #22: 0x000000018a01e2b8 libsystem_pthread.dylib`_pthread_wqthread + 1288
    frame #23: 0x000000018a01dda4 libsystem_pthread.dylib`start_wqthread + 4

Crash log #2:

* thread #12: tid = 0x2521f, 0x000000010010ae8c libBacktraceRecording.dylib`__gcd_queue_item_enqueue_hook_block_invoke, queue = 'com.apple.CFNetwork.Connection', stop reason = EXC_BAD_ACCESS (code=1, address=0xd00f524835000200)
      * frame #0: 0x000000010010ae8c libBacktraceRecording.dylib`__gcd_queue_item_enqueue_hook_block_invoke
        frame #1: 0x000000010010a41c libBacktraceRecording.dylib`gcd_queue_item_enqueue_hook + 232
        frame #2: 0x0000000100759ee8 libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_introspection_queue_item_enqueue_hook + 40
        frame #3: 0x0000000100738ba4 libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_queue_push + 196
        frame #4: 0x00000001975ccb3c libnetwork.dylib`nw_connection_read + 448
        frame #5: 0x00000001975d938c libnetwork.dylib`tcp_connection_read + 168
        frame #6: 0x000000018b719d54 CFNetwork`TCPIOConnection::read(unsigned long, unsigned long, void (dispatch_data_s*, CFStreamError) block_pointer) + 172
        frame #7: 0x000000018b782af4 CFNetwork`HTTPEngine::_getBodyIntelligently(void (dispatch_data_s*, CFStreamError, bool) block_pointer) + 816
        frame #8: 0x000000018b780d0c CFNetwork`HTTPEngine::_readBodyStartNextRead() + 76
        frame #9: 0x000000018b783664 CFNetwork`___ZN10HTTPEngine21_getBodyIntelligentlyEU13block_pointerFvP15dispatch_data_s13CFStreamErrorbE_block_invoke.56 + 344
        frame #10: 0x000000018b719f64 CFNetwork`___ZN15TCPIOConnection4readEmmU13block_pointerFvP15dispatch_data_s13CFStreamErrorE_block_invoke + 480
        frame #11: 0x000000010072d25c libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_call_block_and_release + 24
        frame #12: 0x000000010072d21c libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_client_callout + 16
        frame #13: 0x000000010073ab54 libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_queue_serial_drain + 1136
        frame #14: 0x0000000100730ce4 libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_queue_invoke + 672
        frame #15: 0x000000010073ce6c libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_root_queue_drain + 584
        frame #16: 0x000000010073cbb8 libdispatch.dylib`_dispatch_worker_thread3 + 140
        frame #17: 0x000000018a01e2b8 libsystem_pthread.dylib`_pthread_wqthread + 1288
        frame #18: 0x000000018a01dda4 libsystem_pthread.dylib`start_wqthread + 4

UPDATE:
I can now semi-reliably reproduce this error by running the loop pasted below in the iOS Simulator. This does not happen on iOS 9.3. If you run the code below, within a minute you should receive the error. Since it's very likely to occur in the simulator, compared with a device, I would assume it's a concurrency issue that becomes more likely with more processing power/cores.
To reproduce error, run this:

var i = 0
while true {
    print("running: \(i)")
    // random url, larger files seem more likely to cause error
    let url = "http://qthttp.apple.com.edgesuite.net/1010qwoeiuryfg/3340/33409.ts"
    let c = Downloader(url: url)
    c.start()
    c.waitForFinish()
    i += 1
}

Best Answer

After speaking with Apple Technical Support we confirmed that it's a bug within the libBacktraceRecording.dylib library, which is used for debugging within Xcode. I have filed a bug report and have been told that it won't crash on a users device since this is a debug error that occurs within a library not present on most users' devices.

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