RFR: 8365588: defineClass that accepts a ByteBuffer does not work as expected [v2]

Xueming Shen sherman at openjdk.org
Tue Sep 30 21:02:03 UTC 2025


> ### Background
> 
> - ClassLoader.defineClass can receive class data in the form of arrays or ByteBuffers.
> - For array-backed data (defineClass1), a defensive copy is made before passing it to JVM_DefineClassWithSource().
> - For Direct-ByteBuffer variants (defineClass2), no defensive copy is made, which creates a risk that the underlying bytes could be modified while the JVM is processing them.
> - Although a caller could always modify a buffer before a defensive copy is made — a race condition that cannot be completely prevented — the **_main concern_** is ensuring that the JVM never processes class bytes that are being concurrently modified.
> 
> ### Problem
> 
> - Concurrent modification risk during processing: while we cannot prevent pre-copy modifications, we **_must prevent the JVM from using class bytes that are being modified concurrently._**
> - Performance concerns: defensive copies have a cost, especially for direct byte buffers. Making copies unnecessarily for trusted class loaders (like the built-in class loader) would hurt performance.
> 
> ### Solution
> 
> - Make a defensive copy of the direct byte-buffer only when the class loader is **NOT** a built-in/trusted class loader.
> - For the built-in class loader, skip the copy because the JVM can guarantee that the buffer contents remain intact.
> 
> This approach ensures the integrity of  class bytes processes for untrusted or custom class loaders while minimizing performance impact for trusted or built-in loaders.
> 
> ### Benchmark
> 
> A JMH benchmark has been added to measure the potential cost of the defensive copy. The results indicate that the performance impact is minimal and largely insignificant.
> 
> **Before:**
> 
> 
> Benchmark                                               Mode  Cnt     Score      Error  Units
> ClassLoaderDefineClass.testDefineClassByteBufferDirect  avgt   15  8387.247 ± 1405.681  ns/op
> ClassLoaderDefineClass.testDefineClassByteBufferHeap    avgt   15  8971.739 ± 1020.288  ns/op
> Finished running test 'micro:org.openjdk.bench.java.lang.ClassLoaderDefineClass'
> Test report is stored in /Users/xuemingshen/jdk26/build/macosx-aarch64/test-results/micro_org_openjdk_bench_java_lang_ClassLoaderDefineClass
> 
> 
> **After:**
> 
> 
> Benchmark                                               Mode  Cnt     Score      Error  Units
> ClassLoaderDefineClass.testDefineClassByteBufferDirect  avgt   15  8521.881 ± 2002.011  ns/op
> ClassLoaderDefineClass.testDefineClassByteBufferHeap    avgt   15  9002.842 ± 1099.635  ns/op
> Finished running test 'mi...

Xueming Shen has refreshed the contents of this pull request, and previous commits have been removed. The incremental views will show differences compared to the previous content of the PR. The pull request contains one new commit since the last revision:

  8365588: defineClass that accepts a ByteBuffer does not work as expected

-------------

Changes:
  - all: https://git.openjdk.org/jdk/pull/27569/files
  - new: https://git.openjdk.org/jdk/pull/27569/files/cb294829..c7cb474f

Webrevs:
 - full: https://webrevs.openjdk.org/?repo=jdk&pr=27569&range=01
 - incr: https://webrevs.openjdk.org/?repo=jdk&pr=27569&range=00-01

  Stats: 7 lines in 2 files changed: 0 ins; 0 del; 7 mod
  Patch: https://git.openjdk.org/jdk/pull/27569.diff
  Fetch: git fetch https://git.openjdk.org/jdk.git pull/27569/head:pull/27569

PR: https://git.openjdk.org/jdk/pull/27569


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