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Exit Code 139 in CI: Segmentation Fault (SIGSEGV) Explained

Exit code 139 means the process died from SIGSEGV (128 + 11) - a segmentation fault.

A step exiting 139 hit an invalid memory access. This is almost always a real bug in native code, not a transient infrastructure problem.

What it means

139 = 128 + 11. SIGSEGV fires on an invalid memory reference: a null dereference, use-after-free, buffer overflow, or an ABI mismatch between a binary and a library.

Common causes

  • A native addon built against a different runtime ABI.
  • A C/C++ memory bug (null pointer, overflow).
  • Stack overflow from unbounded recursion.

How to fix it

Reproduce with debug symbols and a core dump or a sanitizer (ASan). For native addons, rebuild against the exact runtime ABI on the runner. This reproduces deterministically, so retrying will not help.

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