dotnet/runtime

Possible thread safety issue with linked cache entries

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#46,032 opened on Dec 14, 2020

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area-Extensions-Cachingbughelp wanted

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Description

As noticed by @gfoidl in https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/pull/45962/files#r541573802

It's possible that when the following code responsible for propagating the options to the linked cache entry:

https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/blob/8d6e098d647bd59a79165c3ad6b31957999479bb/src/libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Memory/src/CacheEntry.cs#L329-L341

calls the parent.AddExpirationToken method:

https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/blob/1d9e50cb4735df46d3de0cee5791e97295eaf588/src/libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Abstractions/src/CacheEntryExtensions.cs#L40

is using _expirationTokens which might be used without a lock in the CheckForExpiredTokens method at the same time

https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/blob/8d6e098d647bd59a79165c3ad6b31957999479bb/src/libraries/Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Memory/src/CacheEntry.cs#L207-L229

Adding a lock to CheckForExpiredTokens would be trivial, but it would hurt the perf...

Contributor guide

Research direction
Analyze the concurrent access to expirationTokens in CacheEntry.cs, particularly between AddExpirationToken and CheckForExpiredTokens, and propose a lock free or minimal lock solution to avoid thread safety issues without significantly impacting performance.
Tech stack
csharp
Domain
backend
Issue type
Bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-2 days
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Active
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Clear
Prerequisites
C#Multithreading
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
40