Example of a ClassLoader leak in Java

ClassLoaderLeakExample.java

import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URLClassLoader;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
import java.nio.file.Path;

/**
 * Example demonstrating a ClassLoader leak.
 *
 * <p>To see it in action, copy this file to a temp directory somewhere,
 * and then run:
 * <pre>{@code
 *   javac ClassLoaderLeakExample.java
 *   java -cp . ClassLoaderLeakExample
 * }</pre>
 *
 * <p>And watch the memory grow! On my system, using JDK 1.8.0_25, I start
 * getting OutofMemoryErrors within just a few seconds.
 *
 * <p>This class is implemented using some Java 8 features, mainly for
 * convenience in doing I/O. The same basic mechanism works in any version
 * of Java since 1.2.
 */
public final class ClassLoaderLeakExample {

  static volatile boolean running = true;

  public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    Thread thread = new LongRunningThread();
    try {
      thread.start();
      System.out.println("Running, press any key to stop.");
      System.in.read();
    } finally {
      running = false;
      thread.join();
    }
  }

  /**
   * Implementation of the thread. It just calls {@link #loadAndDiscard()}
   * in a loop.
   */
  static final class LongRunningThread extends Thread {
    @Override public void run() {
      while(running) {
        try {
          loadAndDiscard();
        } catch (Throwable ex) {
          ex.printStackTrace();
        }
        try {
          Thread.sleep(100);
        } catch (InterruptedException ex) {
          System.out.println("Caught InterruptedException, shutting down.");
          running = false;
        }
      }
    }
  }
  
  /**
   * A simple ClassLoader implementation that is only able to load one
   * class, the LoadedInChildClassLoader class. We have to jump through
   * some hoops here because we explicitly want to ensure we get a new
   * class each time (instead of reusing the class loaded by the system
   * class loader). If this child class were in a JAR file that wasn't
   * part of the system classpath, we wouldn't need this mechanism.
   */
  static final class ChildOnlyClassLoader extends ClassLoader {
    ChildOnlyClassLoader() {
      super(ClassLoaderLeakExample.class.getClassLoader());
    }
    
    @Override protected Class<?> loadClass(String name, boolean resolve)
        throws ClassNotFoundException {
      if (!LoadedInChildClassLoader.class.getName().equals(name)) {
        return super.loadClass(name, resolve);
      }
      try {
        Path path = Paths.get(LoadedInChildClassLoader.class.getName()
            + ".class");
        byte[] classBytes = Files.readAllBytes(path);
        Class<?> c = defineClass(name, classBytes, 0, classBytes.length);
        if (resolve) {
          resolveClass(c);
        }
        return c;
      } catch (IOException ex) {
        throw new ClassNotFoundException("Could not load " + name, ex);
      }
    }
  }
  
  /**
   * Helper method that constructs a new ClassLoader, loads a single class,
   * and then discards any reference to them. Theoretically, there should
   * be no GC impact, since no references can escape this method! But in
   * practice this will leak memory like a sieve.
   */
  static void loadAndDiscard() throws Exception {
    ClassLoader childClassLoader = new ChildOnlyClassLoader();
    Class<?> childClass = Class.forName(
        LoadedInChildClassLoader.class.getName(), true, childClassLoader);
    childClass.newInstance();
    // When this method returns, there will be no way to reference
    // childClassLoader or childClass at all, but they will still be
    // rooted for GC purposes!
  }

  /**
   * An innocuous-looking class. Doesn't do anything interesting.
   */
  public static final class LoadedInChildClassLoader {
    // Grab a bunch of bytes. This isn't necessary for the leak, it just
    // makes the effect visible more quickly.
    // Note that we're really leaking these bytes, since we're effectively
    // creating a new instance of this static final field on each iteration!
    static final byte[] moreBytesToLeak = new byte[1024 * 1024 * 10];
  
    private static final ThreadLocal<LoadedInChildClassLoader> threadLocal
        = new ThreadLocal<>();
    
    public LoadedInChildClassLoader() {
      // Stash a reference to this class in the ThreadLocal
      threadLocal.set(this);
    }
  }
}