gh-136872: Build pymalloc in sanitizer builds, but disable it by default (GH-157934)

--with-*address-sanitizer and --with-memory-sanitizer unconditionally
disabled pymalloc (even when --with-pymalloc was given explicitly).

Enable it, so that it's available with `PYTHONMALLOC=pymalloc`.
Disable it by default on the affected sanitizer builds.

Author: vasiliyk

Doc/c-api/memory.rst

@@ -437,6 +437,8 @@ Release build                        ``"pymalloc"``           ``malloc``
 Debug build                          ``"pymalloc_debug"``     ``malloc`` + debug    ``pymalloc`` + debug    ``pymalloc`` + debug
 Release build, without pymalloc      ``"malloc"``             ``malloc``            ``malloc``              ``malloc``
 Debug build, without pymalloc        ``"malloc_debug"``       ``malloc`` + debug    ``malloc`` + debug      ``malloc`` + debug
+Release build, with ASan or MSan     ``"malloc"``             ``malloc``            ``malloc``              ``malloc``
+Debug build, with ASan or MSan       ``"malloc_debug"``       ``malloc`` + debug    ``malloc`` + debug      ``malloc`` + debug
 Free-threaded build                  ``"mimalloc"``           ``mimalloc``          ``mimalloc``            ``mimalloc``
 Free-threaded debug build            ``"mimalloc_debug"``     ``mimalloc`` + debug  ``mimalloc`` + debug    ``mimalloc`` + debug
 ===================================  =======================  ====================  ======================  ======================
@@ -451,6 +453,10 @@ Legend:
 * "+ debug": with :ref:`debug hooks on the Python memory allocators
   <pymem-debug-hooks>`.
 * "Debug build": :ref:`Python build in debug mode <debug-build>`.
+* "with ASan or MSan": sanitizer build as configured using the
+  :option:`--with-address-sanitizer`,
+  :option:`--with-hwaddress-sanitizer`, and/or
+  :option:`--with-memory-sanitizer` option.
 
 .. _customize-memory-allocators:
 
@@ -705,9 +711,11 @@ This allocator is disabled if Python is configured with the
 :option:`--without-pymalloc` option. It can also be disabled at runtime using
 the :envvar:`PYTHONMALLOC` environment variable (ex: ``PYTHONMALLOC=malloc``).
 
-Typically, it makes sense to disable the pymalloc allocator when building
-Python with AddressSanitizer (:option:`--with-address-sanitizer`) which helps
-uncover low level bugs within the C code.
+The pymalloc allocator is disabled by default when Python is built with
+a sanitizer which does not track pymalloc allocations
+(:option:`--with-address-sanitizer`, :option:`--with-hwaddress-sanitizer`,
+:option:`--with-memory-sanitizer`).
+Use :envvar:`PYTHONMALLOC=pymalloc <PYTHONMALLOC>` to enable pymalloc.
 
 Customize pymalloc Arena Allocator
 ----------------------------------

Doc/using/configure.rst

@@ -1016,9 +1016,9 @@ Debug options
 .. option:: --with-address-sanitizer
 
    Enable AddressSanitizer memory error detector, ``asan`` (default is no).
-   To improve ASan detection capabilities you may also want to combine this
-   with :option:`--without-pymalloc` to disable the specialized small-object
-   allocator whose allocations are not tracked by ASan.
+
+   When built with ``asan``, Python uses ``malloc`` instead of :ref:`pymalloc <pymalloc>` by default.
+   Set :envvar:`PYTHONMALLOC=pymalloc <PYTHONMALLOC>` to use pymalloc.
 
    .. versionadded:: 3.6
 
@@ -1033,6 +1033,9 @@ Debug options
    <https://clang.llvm.org/docs/HardwareAssistedAddressSanitizerDesign.html>`_
    for more information.
 
+   When built with ``hwasan``, Python uses ``malloc`` instead of :ref:`pymalloc <pymalloc>` by default.
+   Set :envvar:`PYTHONMALLOC=pymalloc <PYTHONMALLOC>` to use pymalloc.
+
    .. versionadded:: next
 
 .. option:: --with-memory-sanitizer
@@ -1043,6 +1046,9 @@ Debug options
    not built with MSan, so either build all dependencies with MSan or disable
    the extension modules that use them in :file:`Modules/Setup.local`.
 
+   When built with ``msan``, Python uses ``malloc`` instead of :ref:`pymalloc <pymalloc>` by default.
+   Set :envvar:`PYTHONMALLOC=pymalloc <PYTHONMALLOC>` to use pymalloc.
+
    .. versionadded:: 3.6
 
 .. option:: --with-undefined-behavior-sanitizer

Include/internal/pycore_pymem_init.h

@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@ extern void _PyMem_MiRawFree(void *, void *);
 extern void* _PyMem_MiRawRealloc(void *, void *, size_t);
 #  undef PYRAW_ALLOC
 #  define PYRAW_ALLOC {NULL, _PyMem_MiRawMalloc, _PyMem_MiRawCalloc, _PyMem_MiRawRealloc, _PyMem_MiRawFree}
+#elif defined(_Py_ADDRESS_SANITIZER) || defined(_Py_MEMORY_SANITIZER)
+// Keep in sync with the default allocators in Objects/obmalloc.c.
+#  define PYOBJ_ALLOC PYRAW_ALLOC
+#  define PYMEM_ALLOC PYOBJ_ALLOC
 #elif defined(WITH_PYMALLOC)
 extern void* _PyObject_Malloc(void *, size_t);
 extern void* _PyObject_Calloc(void *, size_t, size_t);

Lib/test/test_cmd_line.py

@@ -845,10 +845,13 @@ def test_xdev(self):
             code = "import _testinternalcapi; print(_testinternalcapi.pymem_getallocatorsname())"
             with support.SuppressCrashReport():
                 out = self.run_xdev("-c", code, check_exitcode=False)
-            if support.with_pymalloc():
-                alloc_name = "pymalloc_debug"
-            elif support.Py_GIL_DISABLED:
+            if support.Py_GIL_DISABLED:
                 alloc_name = "mimalloc_debug"
+            elif support.check_sanitizer(address=True, memory=True):
+                # ASan and MSan builds default to malloc, even with pymalloc.
+                alloc_name = "malloc_debug"
+            elif support.with_pymalloc():
+                alloc_name = "pymalloc_debug"
             else:
                 alloc_name = "malloc_debug"
             self.assertEqual(out, alloc_name)
@@ -927,10 +930,15 @@ def test_pythonmalloc(self):
         # Test the PYTHONMALLOC environment variable
         malloc = not support.Py_GIL_DISABLED
         pymalloc = support.with_pymalloc()
+        sanitizer = support.check_sanitizer(address=True, memory=True)
         mimalloc = support.with_mimalloc()
         if support.Py_GIL_DISABLED:
             default_name = 'mimalloc_debug' if support.Py_DEBUG else 'mimalloc'
             default_name_debug = 'mimalloc_debug'
+        elif sanitizer:
+            # ASan and MSan builds default to malloc, even with pymalloc.
+            default_name = 'malloc_debug' if support.Py_DEBUG else 'malloc'
+            default_name_debug = 'malloc_debug'
         elif pymalloc:
             default_name = 'pymalloc_debug' if support.Py_DEBUG else 'pymalloc'
             default_name_debug = 'pymalloc_debug'

Lib/test/test_sys.py

@@ -1194,8 +1194,10 @@ def test_debugmallocstats(self):
         # The sysconfig vars are not available on Windows.
         if sys.platform != "win32":
             with_pymalloc = sysconfig.get_config_var("WITH_PYMALLOC")
+            with_sanitizer = support.check_sanitizer(address=True, memory=True)
             self.assertIn(b"free PyDictObjects", err)
-            if with_pymalloc:
+            # ASan and MSan builds default to malloc, even with pymalloc.
+            if with_pymalloc and not with_sanitizer:
                 self.assertIn(b'Small block threshold', err)
 
         # The function has no parameter

Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2026-09-21-19-20-42.gh-issue-136872.a2tSc_.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Python built with :option:`--with-address-sanitizer` or
+:option:`--with-memory-sanitizer` now includes pymalloc, but uses ``malloc``
+as the default memory allocator. Set
+:envvar:`PYTHONMALLOC=pymalloc <PYTHONMALLOC>` to use pymalloc.

Objects/obmalloc.c

@@ -433,6 +433,12 @@ void* _PyObject_Realloc(void *ctx, void *ptr, size_t size);
 #  define PYRAW_ALLOC MIMALLOC_RAWALLOC
 #  define PYMEM_ALLOC MIMALLOC_ALLOC
 #  define PYOBJ_ALLOC MIMALLOC_OBJALLOC
+#elif defined(_Py_ADDRESS_SANITIZER) || defined(_Py_MEMORY_SANITIZER)
+// ASan and MSan do not track pymalloc blocks, so use malloc by default.
+// pymalloc can still be selected at runtime.
+#  define PYRAW_ALLOC MALLOC_ALLOC
+#  define PYMEM_ALLOC MALLOC_ALLOC
+#  define PYOBJ_ALLOC MALLOC_ALLOC
 #elif defined(WITH_PYMALLOC)
 #  define PYRAW_ALLOC MALLOC_ALLOC
 #  define PYMEM_ALLOC PYMALLOC_ALLOC

configure

@@ -3526,8 +3526,6 @@ AC_ARG_WITH([address_sanitizer],
 AC_MSG_RESULT([$withval])
 BASECFLAGS="-fsanitize=address -fno-omit-frame-pointer $BASECFLAGS"
 LDFLAGS="-fsanitize=address $LDFLAGS"
-# ASan works by controlling memory allocation, our own malloc interferes.
-with_pymalloc="no"
 ],
 [AC_MSG_RESULT([no])])
 
@@ -3551,11 +3549,6 @@ AX_CHECK_COMPILE_FLAG([$hwasan_flags],[
 BASECFLAGS="$hwasan_flags -fno-omit-frame-pointer $BASECFLAGS"
 LDFLAGS="$hwasan_flags $LDFLAGS"
 ],[AC_MSG_ERROR([The selected compiler doesn't support hardware address sanitizer])])
-# HWASan works by controlling memory allocation, our own malloc interferes,
-# so disable it by default, but allow --with-pymalloc to override.
-if test -z "$with_pymalloc"; then
-  with_pymalloc="no"
-fi
 ],
 [AC_MSG_RESULT([no])])
 
@@ -3572,8 +3565,6 @@ AX_CHECK_COMPILE_FLAG([-fsanitize=memory],[
 BASECFLAGS="-fsanitize=memory -fsanitize-memory-track-origins=2 -fno-omit-frame-pointer $BASECFLAGS"
 LDFLAGS="-fsanitize=memory -fsanitize-memory-track-origins=2 $LDFLAGS"
 ],[AC_MSG_ERROR([The selected compiler doesn't support memory sanitizer])])
-# MSan works by controlling memory allocation, our own malloc interferes.
-with_pymalloc="no"
 ],
 [AC_MSG_RESULT([no])])