D.U.M.A – Detect Unintended Memory Access

Last Updated on July 10, 2021

DUMA is an open-source library to detect buffer overruns and under-runs in C and C++ programs.

DUMA helps developers detect common programming bugs:

• Overrunning the end (or beginning) of a dynamically allocated buffer.
• Using a dynamically allocated buffer after returning it to the heap.
• Detecting memory leaks.
• Detects mismatch of allocation/deallocation functions: e.g.
  allocation with malloc() but deallocation with operator delete.

Unlike other malloc() debuggers, DUMA will detect read accesses as well as writes, and it will pinpoint the exact instruction that causes an error.

DUMA uses the virtual memory hardware of your computer to place an inaccessible memory page immediately after (or before, at the user’s option) each memory allocation. When software reads or writes this inaccessible page, the hardware issues a segmentation fault, stopping the program at the offending instruction. It is then trivial to find the erroneous statement using your favorite debugger. In a similar manner, memory that has been released by free() is made inaccessible, and any code that touches it will get a segmentation fault.

This library is a fork of Buce Perens Electric Fence library and adds some additional functionality.

Features include:

• “Overloads” all standard memory allocation functions like malloc(), calloc(), memalign(), strdup(), operator new, operator new[] and also their counterpart deallocation functions like free(), operator delete and operator delete[].
• Uses the MMU (memory management unit) of the CPU: allocates and protects an extra memory page to detect any illegal access beyond the top/bottom of the buffer.
• Stops the program at exactly that instruction, which makes the erroneous access to the protected memory page, allowing location of the defective source code in a debugger; detects erroneous writes at the non-protected end of the memory block at deallocation of the memory block.
• Detects a mismatch of allocation/deallocation functions: e.g allocation with malloc() but deallocation with operator delete.
• Leak detection: detect memory blocks which were not deallocated until program exit.
• Preloading of the library.
• Allowing tests without necessity of changing source code or recompilation.

Website: duma.sourceforge.io
Support:
Developer: Hayati Ayguen, Michael Eddington
License: GNU GPL

DUMA is written in C++. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials.

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