This is a follow-up from msg275748 in issue 27213 (Rework CALL_FUNCTION* opcodes). I believe the test_runpy failure I mentioned there is also the same error, but this one can be reproduced easily.

test_recursionlimit_fatalerror in SysModuleTest (Lib/test/test_sys.py) segfaults on Ubuntu 12.04 (64-bit) with GCC 4.6.3. I compiled Python with the following commands:

    $ make distclean
    $ ./configure --with-pydebug
    $ make -s -j

To reproduce it, run (adapted from the test)

    import sys

    def f():
        try:
            f()
        except RecursionError:
            f()

    sys.setrecursionlimit(10)

    f()

I tried with different values like 50, 10, 1000 and the behavior is same.

In case it helps, here is the start of the backtrace:

#2  0x00000000004242fa in Py_FatalError (msg=0x6e0990 "Cannot recover from stack overflow.") at Python/pylifecycle.c:1457
#3  0x00000000005b6bf8 in _Py_CheckRecursiveCall (where=0x6ac0c8 " while calling a Python object") at Python/ceval.c:651
#4  0x000000000045d701 in _PyObject_FastCallDict (func=<built-in method flush of _io.TextIOWrapper object at remote 0x7ffff6607580>, args=0x0, nargs=0, kwargs=0x0) at Objects/abstract.c:2292
#5  0x000000000045e4e9 in callmethod (func=<built-in method flush of _io.TextIOWrapper object at remote 0x7ffff6607580>, format=0x0, va=0x7ffffff36eb0, is_size_t=0) at Objects/abstract.c:2569
#6  0x000000000045e872 in _PyObject_CallMethodId (o=<_io.TextIOWrapper at remote 0x7ffff6607580>, name=0x94c030, format=0x0) at Objects/abstract.c:2626
#7  0x0000000000421ceb in flush_std_files () at Python/pylifecycle.c:515
#8  0x00000000004242f2 in Py_FatalError (msg=0x6e0990 "Cannot recover from stack overflow.") at Python/pylifecycle.c:1436
#9  0x00000000005b6bf8 in _Py_CheckRecursiveCall (where=0x6e09db "") at Python/ceval.c:651
#10 0x00000000005b6f3c in _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault (f=Frame 0xabf4a8, for file a.py, line 3, in f (), throwflag=0) at Python/ceval.c:1003
#11 0x00000000005b6d88 in PyEval_EvalFrameEx (f=Frame 0xabf4a8, for file a.py, line 3, in f (), throwflag=0) at Python/ceval.c:718
Python Exception <class 'gdb.error'> There is no member named dk_entries.:
#12 0x00000000005d4b85 in _PyFunction_FastCall (co=0x7ffff65731c0, args=0xabf3e8, nargs=0, globals=) at Python/ceval.c:4845
#13 0x00000000005d4d7a in fast_function (func=<function at remote 0x7ffff6496338>, stack=0xabf3e8, nargs=0, kwnames=0x0) at Python/ceval.c:4880
#14 0x00000000005d4841 in call_function (pp_stack=0x7ffffff39030, oparg=0, kwnames=0x0) at Python/ceval.c:4784
#15 0x00000000005cc464 in _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault (f=Frame 0xabf258, for file a.py, line 5, in f (), throwflag=0) at Python/ceval.c:3250
#16 0x00000000005b6d88 in PyEval_EvalFrameEx (f=Frame 0xabf258, for file a.py, line 5, in f (), throwflag=0) at Python/ceval.c:718
Python Exception <class 'gdb.error'> There is no member named dk_entries.: 
#17 0x00000000005d4b85 in _PyFunction_FastCall (co=0x7ffff65731c0, args=0xabf198, nargs=0, globals=) at Python/ceval.c:4845
#18 0x00000000005d4d7a in fast_function (func=<function at remote 0x7ffff6496338>, stack=0xabf198, nargs=0, kwnames=0x0) at Python/ceval.c:4880
#19 0x00000000005d4841 in call_function (pp_stack=0x7ffffff3afa0, oparg=0, kwnames=0x0) at Python/ceval.c:4784
#20 0x00000000005cc464 in _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault (f=Frame 0xabf008, for file a.py, line 5, in f (), throwflag=0) at Python/ceval.c:3250
#21 0x00000000005b6d88 in PyEval_EvalFrameEx (f=Frame 0xabf008, for file a.py, line 5, in f (), throwflag=0) at Python/ceval.c:718

Running with fresh build from IDLE in a subprocess on Win10, with 15 instead of 10, I quickly get a fatal Python error and the Windows box equivalent to a segfault.

This snippet also crashes in Py3.5

What do you mean by crash? I think the purpose of the test is to crash the interpreter:

    def test_recursionlimit_fatalerror(self):
        # A fatal error occurs if a second recursion limit is hit when recovering
        # from a first one.

        ...

        self.assertIn(
            b"Fatal Python error: Cannot recover from stack overflow",
            err)

test_sys passes for me in Python 3.5, but not in Python 3.6:

======================================================================
FAIL: test_recursionlimit_fatalerror (test.test_sys.SysModuleTest)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/berker/projects/cpython/default/Lib/test/test_sys.py", line 281, in test_recursionlimit_fatalerror
    err)
AssertionError: b'Fatal Python error: Cannot recover from stack overflow' not found in b''

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Running the snippet from msg276686 in Python 3.6:

    $ ./python -V
    Python 3.6.0b1+

    $ ./python a.py  
    Segmentation fault (core dumped)

In Python 3.5:

    $ ./python -V
    Python 3.5.2+

    $ ./python a.py 
    Fatal Python error: Cannot recover from stack overflow.

    Current thread 0x00007f5965eaf700 (most recent call first):
      File "a.py", line 5 in f
      File "a.py", line 5 in f
      File "a.py", line 5 in f
    [...]

I also got the same result on 3.5 as 3.6.

And the test passes on Windows on both versions.

Since this is also reproducible on some 3.5.2 platforms, I don't think it qualifies as a release blocker for 3.6.0.  But it still should be addressed.

I'm not seeing this crash on master. I believe is was fixed under issue42500, which add this case as a unit test: see recurse_in_body_and_except  in 

https://github.com/python/cpython/commit/4e7a69bdb63a104587759d7784124492dcdd496e#diff-3dbd58a46964dc5908595a1caa552fa3f5e2e46610679634ffc1064fd7cc3c8fR1106

Yes, this indeed seems to be fixed by issue 42500 and can be closed now. Nice detective work, thank you!

messages: + msg387201
stage: needs patch -> resolved

nosy: + iritkatriel
messages: + msg387151

superseder: crash with unbounded recursion in except statement
resolution: duplicate

messages: + msg278436

messages: + msg276786
versions: + Python 3.5