Bug report

Bug description:

Description

A decimal.Context object's flags (and traps) attribute returns a signaldict that holds a borrowed reference to the parent Context. When the parent Context is explicitly deleted, its refcount drops to zero and context_dealloc frees it. However, the signaldict object remains alive and accessible. Any subsequent operation that calls signaldict_repr — such as print(), str(), or repr() — reads through the now-freed Context pointer, causing a heap-use-after-free.

Reproducer

import decimal
ctx = decimal.Context(prec=7)
mapping = ctx.flags
del ctx
print(mapping)

Expected behavior

Either signaldict holds a strong reference to its parent Context (keeping it alive as long as the signaldict is alive), or accessing a signaldict whose parent has been freed raises a RuntimeError or similar safe error. Under no circumstances should signaldict_repr read through a freed pointer.

Actual behavior

=================================================================
==ERROR: AddressSanitizer: heap-use-after-free on address ... in signaldict_repr
READ of size 4 at ... thread T0
    #0 signaldict_repr  Include/internal/pycore_moduleobject.h
    #1 PyObject_Str     Objects/object.c:823
    #2 PyFile_WriteObject
    #3 builtin_print_impl
...
freed by thread T0 here:
    #0 free
    #1 context_dealloc  Modules/_decimal/_decimal.c:1512
    #2 _Py_Dealloc
    #3 Py_DECREF / Py_XDECREF
    #4 insertdict        Objects/dictobject.c:1998

Root cause

signaldict is implemented as a view over its parent Context's internal C struct fields. It stores a raw pointer (or borrowed reference) to the Context but does not increment the Context's refcount. When the user holds the last Python reference to the Context and deletes it, context_dealloc immediately frees the underlying C struct. The signaldict is left with a dangling pointer. Any call to signaldict_repr (or other signaldict methods that dereference the parent pointer) then constitutes a use-after-free.

The fix should ensure signaldict holds a strong (Py_INCREF) reference to its parent Context, releasing it only in signaldict's own dealloc.

CPython versions tested on:

CPython main branch

Operating systems tested on:

No response

Linked PRs

• gh-146011: Fix use-after-free in signaldict_repr after deletion #153784
• [3.15] gh-146011: Fix use-after-free in signaldict_repr after deletion (GH-153784) #154599
• [3.14] gh-146011: Fix use-after-free in signaldict_repr after deletion (GH-153784) #154600
• [3.13] gh-146011: Fix use-after-free in signaldict_repr after deletion (GH-153784) #154607
• [3.13] gh-146011: Fix use-after-free in signaldict_repr after deletion (#153784) #154615