Thread: pgsql: Fix expression list handling in ATExecAttachPartition()

Fix expression list handling in ATExecAttachPartition()

This commit addresses two issues related to the manipulation of the
partition constraint expression list in ATExecAttachPartition().

First, the current use of list_concat() to combine the partition's
constraint (retrieved via get_qual_from_partbound()) with the parent
table’s partition constraint can lead to memory safety issues. After
calling list_concat(), the original constraint (partBoundConstraint)
might no longer be safe to access, as list_concat() may free or modify
it.

Second, there's a logical error in constructing the constraint for
validating against the default partition. The current approach
incorrectly includes a negated version of the parent table's partition
constraint, which is redundant, as it always evaluates to false for
rows in the default partition.

To resolve these issues, list_concat() is replaced with
list_concat_copy(), ensuring that partBoundConstraint remains unchanged
and can be safely reused when constructing the validation constraint
for the default partition.

This fix is not applied to back-branches, as there is no live bug and
the issue has not caused any reported problems in practice.

Nitin Jadhav posted a patch to address the memory safety issue, but I
decided to follow Alvaro Herrera's suggestion from the initial
discussion, as it allows us to fix both the memory safety and logical
issues.

Reported-by: Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de>
Reported-by: Nitin Jadhav <nitinjadhavpostgres@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by: Junwang Zhao <zhjwpku@gmail.com>
Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/20231115165737.zeulb575cgrbqo74@awork3.anarazel.de
Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/CAMm1aWbmYHM3bqtjyMQ-a+4Ub=dgsb_2E3_up2cn=UGdHNrGTg@mail.gmail.com

Branch
------
master

Details
-------
https://git.postgresql.org/pg/commitdiff/babb3993dbe9c805c1d29fa275a5e8f4c2b40922

Modified Files
--------------
src/backend/commands/tablecmds.c | 10 ++++++++--
1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

On Thu, Oct 3, 2024 at 7:12 PM Amit Langote <amitlangote09@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 3, 2024 at 18:57 Alexander Korotkov <aekorotkov@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi, Amit!
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 3, 2024 at 6:01 AM Amit Langote <amitlan@postgresql.org> wrote:
>> > Fix expression list handling in ATExecAttachPartition()
>>
>> +    * since it’s needed later to construct the constraint expression for
>>
>> I don't think we're good about using unicode apostrophes.  Could you, please, switch to ascii?
>
>
> Oh, oops, will fix.  Thanks for the heads up.

Done.

--
Thanks, Amit Langote