gh-150505: fix data race in Unpickler_set_memo under free-threading

Unpickler_set_memo modified self->memo and self->memo_size without any
critical section, allowing concurrent threads to race on the same
Unpickler instance. Wrap the memo population loop and the pointer swap
in Py_BEGIN_CRITICAL_SECTION/Py_END_CRITICAL_SECTION to serialize
access.

Author: Ahmed Magdy Ali

Lib/test/test_pickle.py

@@ -808,6 +808,20 @@ def test_unknown_flag(self):
         self.assertStartsWith(stderr.getvalue(), 'usage: ')
 
 
+from threading import Thread
+import pickle
+
+class UnpicklerMemoThreadSafetyTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    @support.requires_working_threading()
+    def test_memo_assignment_race(self):
+        shared = pickle.Unpickler(io.BytesIO(b''))
+        def assign():
+            for _ in range(10000):
+                shared.memo = {j: j for j in range(100)}
+        threads = [Thread(target=assign) for _ in range(8)]
+        for t in threads: t.start()
+        for t in threads: t.join()
+
 def load_tests(loader, tests, pattern):
     tests.addTest(doctest.DocTestSuite(pickle))
     return tests

Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2026-05-28-11-46-23.gh-issue-150505.avtcRy.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Fix data race in :class:`pickle.Unpickler` when multiple threads assign to
+the ``memo`` attribute concurrently under free-threading. The memo swap and
+population loop are now protected with a critical section.

Modules/_pickle.c

@@ -7786,24 +7786,38 @@ Unpickler_set_memo(PyObject *op, PyObject *obj, void *Py_UNUSED(closure))
         if (new_memo == NULL)
             return -1;
 
+        bool goto_error = false;
+        Py_BEGIN_CRITICAL_SECTION(self);
         while (PyDict_Next(obj, &i, &key, &value)) {
             Py_ssize_t idx;
             if (!PyLong_Check(key)) {
                 PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError,
                                 "memo key must be integers");
-                goto error;
+                goto_error = true;
+                break;
             }
             idx = PyLong_AsSsize_t(key);
-            if (idx == -1 && PyErr_Occurred())
-                goto error;
+            if (idx == -1 && PyErr_Occurred()) {
+                goto_error = true;
+                break;
+            }
             if (idx < 0) {
                 PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError,
                                 "memo key must be positive integers.");
-                goto error;
+                goto_error = true;
+                break;
             }
+
             if (_Unpickler_MemoPut(self, idx, value) < 0)
-                goto error;
+            {
+                goto_error = true;
+                break;
+            }
         }
+        Py_END_CRITICAL_SECTION();
+        if (goto_error)
+            goto error;
+
     }
     else {
         PyErr_Format(PyExc_TypeError,
@@ -7812,9 +7826,24 @@ Unpickler_set_memo(PyObject *op, PyObject *obj, void *Py_UNUSED(closure))
         return -1;
     }
 
-    _Unpickler_MemoCleanup(self);
+    Py_ssize_t old_memo_size, i;
+    PyObject **old_memo;
+
+    Py_BEGIN_CRITICAL_SECTION(self);
+    old_memo_size = self->memo_size;
+    old_memo = self->memo;
     self->memo_size = new_memo_size;
     self->memo = new_memo;
+    Py_END_CRITICAL_SECTION();
+
+    if (old_memo == NULL) {
+        return 0;
+    }
+    i = old_memo_size;
+    while (--i >= 0) {
+        Py_XDECREF(old_memo[i]);
+    }
+    PyMem_Free(old_memo);
 
     return 0;