[Critical][Windows Desktop 26.721.4979.0] runaway background Git loop exhausts system commit, crashes DWM, and forces reboot

Codex version

• Microsoft Store package: OpenAI.Codex_26.721.4979.0_x64__2p2nqsd0c76g0
• Desktop host: ChatGPT.exe 150.0.7871.128
• Git for Windows: 2.50.1.windows.1

Platform

• Windows 10 x64, build 19045
• 32 GB physical RAM
• 36 GB page file
• Approximately 72.9 GB Windows commit limit

Severity / impact

Critical: whole-machine resource exhaustion requiring a forced reboot.

While Codex Desktop was left open after project work had completed, it entered a background Git status/diff/review loop. Windows exhausted virtual-memory commitment, git.exe began crashing continuously, unrelated applications failed, Desktop Window Manager crashed, and the machine became unusable. A forced reset was required.

This is more severe than sustained CPU usage: Windows explicitly reported low virtual memory and Git returned STATUS_COMMITMENT_LIMIT.

What happened

Codex Desktop was associated with a valid but data-heavy Git repository. The repository contained approximately:

• 32,133 files under a generated/simulation-data directory
• 9.58 GB under that directory
• a Git index of approximately 434 KB

The app was not being actively used when the visible failure became severe. VS Code with the Codex extension was also open, but VS Code's built-in Git log reported zero discovered repositories and no continuing Git activity after its initial scan. Codex Desktop's own logs explicitly attribute the repeated commands to Desktop components.

Codex Desktop logged at least 348 Git command completions/failures during the session. Between approximately 13:10 and 13:22 local time it logged 257 Git operations, including:

• 82 operations in one minute
• 122 operations in the following minute

The logged callers/request kinds were primarily:

• source=local_conversation_git_actions requestKind=review-summary
• source=local_conversation_git_actions requestKind=status-summary
• source=review_model requestKind=review-summary
• source=review_model requestKind=branch-diff-stats
• git-repo-watcher

Repeated commands included variants of:

git ... status --renames --porcelain=v1 -z --untracked-files=no
git ... status --no-renames --porcelain=v1 -z --untracked-files=normal
git ... ls-files -u -z
git ... diff --no-ext-diff --no-textconv ... --raw --numstat -z

Several diff attempts produced exactly 520,192 bytes of stdout before cancellation. Failed/cancelled operations were retried repeatedly.

Correlated Windows timeline

Local time:

• 13:11 — Codex Desktop's repeated Git review/status work is already visible in its logs.
• 13:14:36 — Windows Resource Exhaustion Detector: computer is low on virtual memory.
• 13:15:14 — the exhaustion detector itself records a memory-allocation failure.
• 13:15:27 — Microsoft-Windows-PerfProc can no longer collect process-performance information.
• 13:15:58 — git.exe, ChatGPT.exe, Chrome, Steam web helper, and services begin crashing together.
• 13:16:25 — another low-virtual-memory notification and detector allocation failure.
• 13:18:01–13:18:02 — 40 git.exe Application Error events in approximately two seconds.
• 13:20:21 — another low-virtual-memory notification and detector allocation failure.
• 13:20–13:22 — Git crash/retry storm continues.
• 13:22:05 — dwm.exe crashes.
• 13:22:07 — bundled codex.exe crashes with 0xc0000409 at offset 0x000000000d3e12f1.
• 13:25:39 — Windows still reports low virtual memory.
• 14:55:27 — another remaining git.exe crash is recorded.
• 14:57 — an unrelated desktop application hangs.
• 14:58 — Kernel-Power Event 41 records the forced/unclean reboot.

Windows recorded 73 separate git.exe Application Error events during this incident.

Significant error codes

Codex Desktop's Git log recorded:

3221225773 = 0xC000012D = STATUS_COMMITMENT_LIMIT
3221225794 = 0xC0000142 = DLL initialization failed
3221225477 = 0xC0000005 = access violation

Windows Application Error events for Git additionally included:

• 0xc00000fd — stack overflow
• 0xc0000005 — access violation
• 0x40000015 — fatal application exit

ChatGPT.exe, Chrome, and Steam's web helper failed with 0xe0000008 during the same exhaustion window.

Steps that may reproduce

1. Use Codex Desktop on Windows with a valid, large/data-heavy Git repository.
2. Allow a turn that causes local conversation review/status summaries and Git diff/status collection.
3. Leave Codex Desktop open and idle after the visible turn completes.
4. Observe the Desktop log under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Codex\Logs.
5. Watch for repeated [git] git.command.complete records from review_model and local_conversation_git_actions, especially cancelled or failed status/diff calls.
6. Observe system commit and git.exe process creation/crashes.

Because allowing the loop to continue rendered the machine unusable, intentionally reproducing it to completion is unsafe.

Expected behavior

• Background Git inspection must be bounded, debounced, and cancelled after a turn/project becomes inactive.
• Failed or cancelled Git status/diff operations must not be retried without backoff or a circuit breaker.
• Git subprocess concurrency and retained output must have strict limits.
• A repository scan must never be able to exhaust system commit or destabilize DWM and unrelated applications.
• Codex should surface one actionable repository-status error and suspend background Git integration for the affected repository.

Working diagnosis

The evidence proves that Windows exhausted virtual-memory commitment and that Codex Desktop initiated hundreds of Git review/status operations immediately before and during the exhaustion.

It does not by itself prove a classic heap leak confined to ChatGPT.exe/codex.exe. The likely product defect is an unbounded retry/process-output lifecycle failure: failed or cancelled Git children and/or captured outputs are not released quickly enough while additional review/status jobs continue to be scheduled.

A private-bytes/process-creation ETW trace or maintainer diagnostic build would be required to distinguish retained Codex heap, unreaped child processes, and output-buffer retention.

Related issues

• #35179 — exact same codex.exe 0xc0000409 offset 0x000000000d3e12f1, triggered by Git repository detection
• #26812 — very high git.exe/conhost.exe creation rate and kernel-pool growth
• #22085 — repeated Git for Windows processes and sustained CPU
• #20933 — multiple Git operations caused by project/chat UI
• #34473 — unbounded/no-backoff Git retry loop causing whole-machine starvation
• #34907 — Windows Desktop CPU/UI failure with matching ChatGPT.exe 0xe0000008 and codex.exe 0xc0000409 families

Privacy

User name, hostname, repository name, full paths, conversation content, account details, and raw logs are intentionally excluded. Sanitized event exports or narrowly scoped diagnostics can be provided through a maintainer-approved private channel.