Problems with memory dynamic allocation: main: malloc.c:3096: sYSMALLOc

Question

I'm writing a simple function to create a list which represents a deck of cards. Here's the definition of the structs

typedef struct {
 float valoreEff;
 char *seme;
 char *valore;
 } carta;

struct Mazzo {
 carta info;
 struct Mazzo *nextPtr;
 };


typedef struct Mazzo mazzo;
typedef mazzo *mazzoPtr;

Here's the function which returns a pointer to the first element of the list

mazzoPtr caricaMazzo(void){

 mazzoPtr sMazzoPtr=NULL;
 int val,seme;
 carta buffer;
 mazzoPtr newPtr;
  char *tabValori[10]={"Asso","Due","Tre","Quattro","Cinque","Sei","Sette","Donna","Cavallo","Re"};
  char *tabSeme[4]={"Denari","Spade","Coppe","Bastoni"};

 for(seme=0;seme<4;seme++){
  for(val=0;val<10;val++){
   buffer.seme=tabSeme[seme];
   buffer.valore=tabValori[val];
   if (val<=7) {
    buffer.valoreEff=val+1;
   }
   else {
    buffer.valoreEff=0.5;
   }
   printf("ok\n");
   newPtr=malloc(sizeof(carta));
   if (newPtr==NULL){
    printf("Memoria insufficiente\n");
    return NULL;
   }
   newPtr->info=buffer;
   newPtr->nextPtr=sMazzoPtr;
   sMazzoPtr=newPtr;
  }
 }
 return sMazzoPtr;
}

GCC gives me no compile-time errors, but when I execute the program, this is the output

ok
ok
main: malloc.c:3096: sYSMALLOc: Assertion `(old_top == (((mbinptr) (((char *)
&((av)->bins[((1) - 1) * 2])) - __builtin_offsetof (struct malloc_chunk, fd))))
&& old_size == 0) || ((unsigned long) (old_size) >= (unsigned long)
((((__builtin_offsetof (struct malloc_chunk, fd_nextsize))+((2 *
(sizeof(size_t))) - 1)) & ~((2 * (sizeof(size_t))) - 1))) && ((old_top)->size
& 0x1) && ((unsigned long)old_end & pagemask) == 0)' failed.
Aborted

I've also tried Valgrind, but I can't figure out the mistake in the code.

==21848== Invalid write of size 4
==21848==    at 0x8048554: caricaMazzo (in /home/gianluca/Dropbox/PROGRAMMI/progetto/main)
==21848==    by 0x8048431: main (in /home/gianluca/Dropbox/PROGRAMMI/progetto/main)
==21848==  Address 0x419e034 is 0 bytes after a block of size 12 alloc'd
==21848==    at 0x4025BD3: malloc (vg_replace_malloc.c:236)
==21848==    by 0x804851D: caricaMazzo (in /home/gianluca/Dropbox/PROGRAMMI/progetto/main)
==21848==    by 0x8048431: main (in /home/gianluca/Dropbox/PROGRAMMI/progetto/main)
==21848== 

I hope you can help me :)

Answer 1

The problem appears to be at the line where you call malloc().

newPtr is of type mazzo*, but you are allocating space for a carta, which is too small.

I think it should be newPtr=malloc(sizeof(mazzo));

Answer 2

While this may not be an option for you, you would be better off using C++. Among its many software engineering benefits, its new idiom for allocating memory prevents exactly this kind of error, since you must explicitly use the object type: newPtr = new mazzo;