Implementation of the error buffer in Easy2 is unsound

[kadiwa4]

curl::easy::Easy2::default_configure registers an error buffer like this:

self.setopt_ptr(
    curl_sys::CURLOPT_ERRORBUFFER,
    self.inner.error_buf.borrow().as_ptr() as *const _,
)
.expect("failed to set error buffer");

CURLOPT_ERRORBUFFER requires mutable access over the buffer, and it is important that the buffer pointer is still valid later on when further library calls are made. However, error_buf is borrowed immutably and only for a short time (until the end of the statement).

(A mutable borrow might look like this:

self.inner.error_buf.borrow_mut().as_mut_ptr() as *const u8 as *const _

That does not solve the lifetime problem, though.)

[kadiwa4]

I see a couple of ways how this could be solved:

1. Using a raw pointer to the error buffer with no extra safety features. This is functionally equivalent to the status quo. No idea if this is sound; that would depend on libcurl. The documentation page on error buffers is not very detailed. This option is kinda bad because unsafe would be spread over the entire file instead of being contained in an abstraction.

   struct Inner<H> {
       // ...
       error_buf: *mut u8,
       // ...
   }

2. Registering a new error buffer for every call to libcurl and then reregistering the previous buffer afterwards.
3. Creating a custom cell type (HandleCell) similar to a RefCell that ensures that you never have a RawHandle and an ErrorBuf at the same time. This would prevent reentrant usage of curl functions. That might be a breaking change if reentrant usage is currently allowed.

   mod cell {
       // notably not Clone or Copy
       struct CurlHandle<'a>(*mut curl_sys::CURL, &'a Cell<HandleCellState>);
       impl CurlHandle<'_> {
           pub fn setopt_long(
               &mut self,
               opt: curl_sys::CURLoption,
               val: c_long
           ) -> Result<(), Error> { /* ... */ }
           /* + all other functions which call a libcurl fn with a handle ... */ 
       }
       impl Drop for CurlHandle<'_> { /* reset state of cell */ }
   
       struct ErrorBufRef<'a>(&'a [u8], &'a Cell<HandleCellState>);
       impl Drop for ErrorBufRef<'_> { /* reset state of cell */ }
   
       pub struct HandleCell {
           state: Cell<HandleCellState>,
           handle: *mut curl_sys::CURL,
           error_buf: Vec<u8>,
       }
   
       /// What field is currently borrowed?
       enum HandleCell {
           None,
           Handle,
           ErrorBuf,
       }
   
       impl HandleCell {
           pub fn get_handle(&self) -> CurlHandle<'_> { /* ... */ }
           pub fn get_error_buf(&self) -> ErrorBufRef<'_> { /* ... */ }
       }
   }

4. Same as 3., except that reentrant usage is made possible. If a reentrant (non-outermost) call to libcurl ends up failing, it would not be possible to read the error buffer and the standard error message would be used instead.

I prefer option 1. because I'd assume that it is always okay to read the error buffer whenever our machine is not executing code from libcurl.