sqlite3 Connection and Cursor segfault if __init__ is bypassed (by subclass or __new__ call)

[stestagg]

Crash report

What happened?

import sqlite3
con = sqlite3.Connection.__new__(sqlite3.Connection)
print(con.row_factory)

or, more likely:

import sqlite3
class MyCon(sqlite3.Connection):
  def __init__(self, *a, **kw):
    if self.row_factory:
      pass
    super().__init__()
c = MyCon(':memory:')

Both give:

fish: Job 1, './python.exe repro.py' terminated by signal SIGSEGV (Address boundary error)

LLDB:

Process 76976 stopped
* thread #1, queue = 'com.apple.main-thread', stop reason = EXC_BAD_ACCESS (code=1, address=0x0)
       frame #0: 0x0000000100a93df0 _sqlite3.cpython-316d-darwin.so`Py_INCREF(op=0x0000000000000000) at refcount.h:286:31 [opt] [inlined]
   283 	        _Py_atomic_add_ssize(&op->ob_ref_shared, (1 << _Py_REF_SHARED_SHIFT));
   284 	    }
   285 	#elif SIZEOF_VOID_P > 4
-> 286 	    uint32_t cur_refcnt = op->ob_refcnt;
   287 	    if (cur_refcnt >= _Py_IMMORTAL_INITIAL_REFCNT) {
   288 	        // the object is immortal
   289 	        _Py_INCREF_IMMORTAL_STAT_INC();
Target 0: (python.exe) stopped.
warning: _sqlite3.cpython-316d-darwin.so was compiled with optimization - stepping may behave oddly; variables may not be available.
(lldb) bt
* thread #1, queue = 'com.apple.main-thread', stop reason = EXC_BAD_ACCESS (code=1, address=0x0)
   * frame #0: 0x0000000100a93df0 _sqlite3.cpython-316d-darwin.so`Py_INCREF(op=0x0000000000000000) at refcount.h:286:31 [opt] [inlined]
     frame #1: 0x0000000100a93df0 _sqlite3.cpython-316d-darwin.so`_Py_NewRef(obj=0x0000000000000000) at refcount.h:536:5 [opt] [inlined]
     frame #2: 0x0000000100a93df0 _sqlite3.cpython-316d-darwin.so`connection_get_row_factory(op=0x0000007a371d4040, closure=0x0000000000000000) at connection.c:564:12 [opt]

So, basically, until the tp_init is called, both row_factory and text_factory are NULL, but are treated as always being python objects, causing a number of segfaults.

This was discovered when fixing: gh-152817 / gh-152818 which was a follow-on from: gh-149738 / gh-149754

I think the fix here is to add a tp_new that initializes the fields before python has a chance to mess with the object, and then rely on the associated guards that prevent delattr on those fields (in the above PRs)

CPython versions tested on:

CPython main branch

Operating systems tested on:

Linux

Output from running 'python -VV' on the command line:

Python 3.16.0a0 (heads/main-dirty:c4739533f33, Jul 3 2026, 12:34:46) [Clang 21.0.0 (clang-2100.3.20.102)]

Linked PRs

• gh-152954: Add tp_new to sqlite3 Connection and Cursor objects to initialize row_factory and text_factory before python code can access it #152956