Missing call to __del__ during object destruction¶
ID: py/missing-call-to-delete
Kind: problem
Security severity:
Severity: error
Precision: high
Tags:
- efficiency
- correctness
Query suites:
- python-security-and-quality.qls
Click to see the query in the CodeQL repository
Python, unlike statically typed languages such as Java, allows complete freedom when calling methods during object destruction. However, standard object-oriented principles apply to Python classes using deep inheritance hierarchies. Therefore the developer has responsibility for ensuring that objects are properly cleaned up when there are multiple __del__ methods that need to be called.
If the __del__ method of a superclass is not called during object destruction it is likely that that resources may be leaked.
A call to the __del__ method of a superclass during object destruction may be omitted:
When a subclass calls the
__del__method of the wrong class.When a call to the
__del__method of one its base classes is omitted.
Recommendation¶
Either be careful to explicitly call the __del__ of the correct base class, or use super() throughout the inheritance hierarchy.
Alternatively refactor one or more of the classes to use composition rather than inheritance.
Example¶
In this example, explicit calls to __del__ are used, but SportsCar erroneously calls Vehicle.__del__. This is fixed in FixedSportsCar by calling Car.__del__.
class Vehicle(object):
def __del__(self):
recycle(self.base_parts)
class Car(Vehicle):
def __del__(self):
recycle(self.car_parts)
Vehicle.__del__(self)
#Car.__del__ is missed out.
class SportsCar(Car, Vehicle):
def __del__(self):
recycle(self.sports_car_parts)
Vehicle.__del__(self)
#Fix SportsCar by calling Car.__del__
class FixedSportsCar(Car, Vehicle):
def __del__(self):
recycle(self.sports_car_parts)
Car.__del__(self)
References¶
Python Tutorial: Classes.
Python Standard Library: super.
Artima Developer: Things to Know About Python Super.
Wikipedia: Composition over inheritance.