typedef struct _IO_ERROR_LOG_PACKET {
UCHAR MajorFunctionCode; offset: 0 byte, size: 1 byte
UCHAR RetryCount ; offset: 1 byte, size: 1 byte
USHORT DumpDataSize ; offset: 2 byte, size: 2 byte
USHORT NumberOfStrings ; offset: 4 byte, size: 2 byte
USHORT StringOffset ; offset: 6 byte, size: 2 byte
USHORT EventCategory ; offset: 8 byte, size: 2 byte + 2 byte for alignment
NTSTATUS ErrorCode ; offset: 12 byte, size: 4 byte
ULONG UniqueErrorValue ; offset: 16 byte, size: 4 byte
NTSTATUS FinalStatus ; offset: 20 byte, size: 4 byte
ULONG SequenceNumber ; offset: 24 byte, size: 4 byte
ULONG IoControlCode ; offset: 28 byte, size: 4 byte
LARGE_INTEGER DeviceOffset; offset: 32 byte, size: 8 byte
ULONG DumpData[1] ; offset: 40 byte, size: 4 byte
} IO_ERROR_LOG_PACKET, *PIO_ERROR_LOG_PACKET;
; total = 44 byte
I expected sizeof(IO_ERROR_LOG_PACKET) to be 44 bytes. But when I disassembled it, it turned out to be 48 bytes. Does someone know why?
>Solution :
LARGE_INTEGER is a 64-bit (8-byte) integer. It causes the entire struct to be 8-byte aligned:
typedef struct _IO_ERROR_LOG_PACKET {
UCHAR MajorFunctionCode; 1 byte
UCHAR RetryCount ; 1 byte
USHORT DumpDataSize ; 2 byte
USHORT NumberOfStrings ; 2 byte
USHORT StringOffset ; 2 byte
USHORT EventCategory ; 2 byte + 2 byte for alignment
NTSTATUS ErrorCode ; 4 byte
ULONG UniqueErrorValue ; 4 byte
NTSTATUS FinalStatus ; 4 byte
ULONG SequenceNumber ; 4 byte
ULONG IoControlCode ; 4 byte
LARGE_INTEGER DeviceOffset; 8 byte
ULONG DumpData[1] ; 4 byte + 4 byte for alignment
} IO_ERROR_LOG_PACKET, *PIO_ERROR_LOG_PACKET;
; total = 48 byte
EDIT: to guarantee that DeviceOffset is 8-byte aligned, it’s not enough for the member to be aligned within the struct, but also for the struct to be aligned to 8-bytes. Therefore the struct is also 8-byte aligned, and consequently padded to 48 bytes. (Otherwise in an array of such structs, say, DeviceOffset within every other element would be misaligned).