Java VM crashed with insufficient memory "Native memory allocation (malloc) failed to allocate XXXX bytes for CodeCache: no room for vtable chunks"

Solution Unverified - Updated

Environment

  • Java

Issue

Java VM crashed with insufficient memory "Native memory allocation (malloc) failed to allocate XXXX bytes for CodeCache: no room for vtable chunks". Java VM crash report hs_err_pid<PID>.log contained the followings:

#
# There is insufficient memory for the Java Runtime Environment to continue.
# Native memory allocation (malloc) failed to allocate 4104 bytes for CodeCache: no room for vtable chunks
# Possible reasons:
#   The system is out of physical RAM or swap space
#   In 32 bit mode, the process size limit was hit
# Possible solutions:
#   Reduce memory load on the system
#   Increase physical memory or swap space
#   Check if swap backing store is full
#   Use 64 bit Java on a 64 bit OS
#   Decrease Java heap size (-Xmx/-Xms)
#   Decrease number of Java threads
#   Decrease Java thread stack sizes (-Xss)
#   Set larger code cache with -XX:ReservedCodeCacheSize=
# This output file may be truncated or incomplete.
#
#  Out of Memory Error (vtableStubs.cpp:63), pid=24592, tid=139852319278848
#
# JRE version: 6.0_45-b06
# Java VM: Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (20.45-b01 mixed mode linux-amd64 compressed oops)

Resolution

A similar issue was reported in the Content from bugs.sun.com is not included.bug#7009641. The fix was included in JDK 8 and back-ported to HotSpot 25 by Content from bugs.sun.com is not included.bug#8025329. HotSpot 25 will come with JDK 7 in future release but it has not yet at this moment.

Until the fix is included in JDK 7, you can try the followings as possible workaround:

  • Use the latest version of JDK 7 rather than JDK 6 (because code cache handling was improved in JDK 7 by Content from bugs.sun.com is not included.bug#7025742, which has not been included in JDK 6)
  • Increase -XX:ReservedCodeCacheSize=XXX (Default 48MB) and -XX:CodeCacheMinimumFreeSpace=XXX (Default 500KB) and also set -XX:+UseCodeCacheFlushing

Root Cause

  • Java VM attempted to native memory allocation (malloc) for CodeCache but largest_free_block in Code Cache was smaller than the size Java VM tried to malloc:
# Native memory allocation (malloc) failed to allocate 4104 bytes for CodeCache: no room for vtable chunks
...(snip)...
Code Cache  [0x00007f3264000000, 0x00007f3274000000, 0x00007f3274000000)
 total_blobs=63379 nmethods=62106 adapters=606 free_code_cache=1850816 largest_free_block=704

Diagnostic Steps

  • Ask for Java VM crash report hs_err_pid<PID>.log and check the details of the message and Code Cache usage at the time.
  • Check console log if CodeCache was full at that time. When CodeCache is full, the following log messages will be shown in console log:
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM warning: CodeCache is full. Compiler has been disabled.
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM warning: Try increasing the code cache size using -XX:ReservedCodeCacheSize=
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