RegisterWaitForSingleObject crash sometime if handle is closed immediately - c++

Question

I'm getting a crash sometimes in RegisterWaitForSingleObject (1 out of 10). It seems that although RegisterWaitForSingleObject returns, the internal thread pool is not yet ready.
HANDLE processHandle = OpenProcess (PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS, FALSE, processID);
// CRASH IN INTERNAL SOMETIMES
RegisterWaitForSingleObject (&hWaitForChild_,processHandle,OnChildProcessExit, 0,INFINITE,WT_EXECUTEONLYONCE);
// If I sleep here, then it seems ok.
//std::this_thread::sleep_for (std::chrono::milliseconds (10));
CloseHandle (processHandle);
I can replicate this with a simple sample here. 1 in 10 times, it will crash. How should I be synchronizing it properly without resorting to sleep hack.
https://filedn.com/l3TGy7Y83c247u0RDYa9fkp/temp/stackoverflow/testregister.cpp

Answer 1

based on your code spinet:
// THIS CRASHS HERE SOMETIMES
if (! RegisterWaitForSingleObject (
&hWaitForChild_
,processHandle
, OnChildProcessExit
, 0 //this
, INFINITE
, WT_EXECUTEONLYONCE))
{
LogDebug ("RegisterWaitForSingleObject failed");
}
// If this is enabled, then it won't crash
//std::this_thread::sleep_for (std::chrono::milliseconds (10));
if (! CloseHandle (processHandle)) // !!!
LogDebug ("RegisterWaitForSingleObject Closehandle failed");
so you close processHandle just after you call RegisterWaitForSingleObject for this handle. however if read about RegisterWaitForSingleObject:
If this handle is closed while the wait is still pending, the
function's behavior is undefined.
if look more deep - try understand - how is RegisterWaitForSingleObject worked internally ? it pass processHandle to some worker thread. and this thread begin wait for this handle. but this is (pass handle to another thread) is asynchronous operation - say for example internally can be started new thread with this handle as argument, or it can be passed to already existing working thread via some signal. but anyway - worked thread got this handle and begin wait some later. from another side - you just close processHandle after RegisterWaitForSingleObject return control. so here race - what will be first - or worked thread begin wait on handle (in this case all will be work) or you close this handle. in case you close this handle first - worked thread will be try wait on already invalid handle and raise exception - STATUS_THREADPOOL_HANDLE_EXCEPTION.
// If this is enabled, then it won't crash
//std::this_thread::sleep_for (std::chrono::milliseconds (10));
of course - by sleep you give time for worked thread to begin wait on handle. in this case he begin wait before you close handle.
solution - you must not close handle, until WAITORTIMERCALLBACK Callback will be not called. you need allocate some context, where place processHandle and pass this context to RegisterWaitForSingleObject. and when you callback will be called - you got pointer to your context back and here and close handle.
also note, that you not need open separate, second, handle for child process, but can use process handle returned by CreateProcess

Answer 2

Ok, I managed to solve it by keeping the handle around until I call Unregisterwait. It seems to be stable. Thanks to the answers.

Answer 3

I met the same problem like you that an exception occurred while debugging in Visual Studio. I tried many time and finally found the reason. If you close the handle of the process newly created, the program would crash. I tried to close the handles in the callback function, it works perfectly, like this:
typedef struct {
LPTSTR pszCmdLine;
HANDLE hEvent;
} THREAD_PARAM;
typedef struct {
TCHAR szCmdLine[1024];
HANDLE hWaitObject;
DWORD dwProcessId;
HANDLE hProcess;
DWORD dwThreadId;
HANDLE hThread;
} OBJECT_PARAM;
static void CALLBACK WaitObjectCallback(LPVOID lpParam, BOOLEAN TimerOrWaitFired)
{
OBJECT_PARAM *pobp = static_cast<OBJECT_PARAM *>(lpParam);
TCHAR szInfo[1024] = { 0 };
DWORD dwExitCode = 0;
GetExitCodeProcess(pobp->hProcess, &dwExitCode);
wnsprintf(szInfo, ARRAYSIZE(szInfo), _T("process %u [%s] exit: %u\n"), pobp->dwProcessId, pobp->szCmdLine, dwExitCode);
OutputDebugString(szInfo);
//
// unregister the wait object handle and close the process handle finally
//
UnregisterWait(pobp->hWaitObject);
CloseHandle(pobp->hProcess);
CloseHandle(pobp->hThread);
GlobalFree(lpParam);
}
static DWORD CALLBACK ThreadFunction(LPVOID lpParam)
{
THREAD_PARAM *pthp = static_cast<THREAD_PARAM *>(lpParam);
STARTUPINFO si = { sizeof(si) };
PROCESS_INFORMATION pi = { 0 };
BOOL bResult;
bResult = CreateProcess(nullptr, pthp->pszCmdLine, nullptr, nullptr, FALSE, 0, nullptr, nullptr, &si, &pi);
if (bResult)
{
OBJECT_PARAM *pobp = static_cast<OBJECT_PARAM *>(GlobalAlloc(GPTR, sizeof(OBJECT_PARAM)));
// make copy of the command line and other informations of the newly created process
lstrcpyn(pobp->szCmdLine, pthp->pszCmdLine, ARRAYSIZE(pobp->szCmdLine));
pobp->dwProcessId = pi.dwProcessId;
pobp->hProcess = pi.hProcess;
pobp->dwThreadId = pi.dwThreadId;
pobp->hThread = pi.hThread;
bResult = RegisterWaitForSingleObject(&pobp->hWaitObject, pi.hProcess, WaitObjectCallback, pobp, INFINITE, WT_EXECUTEONLYONCE);
// once it failed...
if (!bResult)
{
CloseHandle(pi.hProcess);
CloseHandle(pi.hThread);
}
}
// Notify the thread creator that the process is created successfully
SetEvent(pthp->hEvent);
return 0;
}