BUG #4383: operations in a certain row makes server process terminate with signal 11

The following bug has been logged online:

Bug reference: 4383
Logged by: Marco Aurelio C. Miranda
Email address: macmiranda(at)gmail(dot)com
PostgreSQL version: 7.4.19
Operating system: CentOS release 4.6 (Final)
Description: operations in a certain row makes server process
terminate with signal 11
Details:

Hi,

the behavior I'm about to demonstrate started to happen after a forced
reboot but fsck hasn't found anything wrong with the ext3 filesystem.

Look what happens when I select the id field of a particular row in this
table:

> select id from uab_message_read where id=249222;
id
------------
1714385506
(1 row)

The id shown is completely different from the one I selected.

And when I try to select any other field of this row or to update any of the
fields or to delete the row, the client outputs the following message:

server closed the connection unexpectedly
This probably means the server terminated abnormally
before or while processing the request.
connection to server was lost

On the server log, that's what I get:
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[8852]: [19-1] LOG: server process (PID 11320)
was terminated by signal 11
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[8852]: [20-1] LOG: terminating any other
active server processes
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11310]: [19-1] WARNING: terminating connection
because of crash of another server process
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11310]: [19-2] DETAIL: The postmaster has
commanded this server process to roll back the current transaction and exit,
because another server
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11310]: [19-3] process exited abnormally and
possibly corrupted shared memory.
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11316]: [19-1] WARNING: terminating connection
because of crash of another server process
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11310]: [19-4] HINT: In a moment you should be
able to reconnect to the database and repeat your command.
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11316]: [19-2] DETAIL: The postmaster has
commanded this server process to roll back the current transaction and exit,
because another server
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11316]: [19-3] process exited abnormally and
possibly corrupted shared memory.
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11284]: [19-1] WARNING: terminating connection
because of crash of another server process
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11316]: [19-4] HINT: In a moment you should be
able to reconnect to the database and repeat your command.
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11284]: [19-2] DETAIL: The postmaster has
commanded this server process to roll back the current transaction and exit,
because another server
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11284]: [19-3] process exited abnormally and
possibly corrupted shared memory.
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11247]: [19-1] WARNING: terminating connection
because of crash of another server process
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11314]: [19-1] WARNING: terminating connection
because of crash of another server process
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11284]: [19-4] HINT: In a moment you should be
able to reconnect to the database and repeat your command.
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11247]: [19-2] DETAIL: The postmaster has
commanded this server process to roll back the current transaction and exit,
because another server
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11314]: [19-2] DETAIL: The postmaster has
commanded this server process to roll back the current transaction and exit,
because another server
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11247]: [19-3] process exited abnormally and
possibly corrupted shared memory.
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11314]: [19-3] process exited abnormally and
possibly corrupted shared memory.
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11247]: [19-4] HINT: In a moment you should be
able to reconnect to the database and repeat your command.
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11314]: [19-4] HINT: In a moment you should be
able to reconnect to the database and repeat your command.
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[8852]: [21-1] LOG: all server processes
terminated; reinitializing
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11322]: [22-1] LOG: database system was
interrupted at 2008-08-27 22:24:31 BRT
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11322]: [23-1] LOG: checkpoint record is at
158/A63C6290
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11322]: [24-1] LOG: redo record is at
158/A6322CEC; undo record is at 0/0; shutdown FALSE
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11322]: [25-1] LOG: next transaction ID:
1535991290; next OID: 37872258
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11322]: [26-1] LOG: database system was not
properly shut down; automatic recovery in progress
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11322]: [27-1] LOG: redo starts at
158/A6322CEC
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11322]: [28-1] LOG: record with zero length at
158/A64ED93C
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11322]: [29-1] LOG: redo done at 158/A64ED918
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11323]: [22-1] FATAL: the database system is
starting up
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11324]: [22-1] FATAL: the database system is
starting up
Aug 27 22:24:47 uab postgres[11325]: [22-1] FATAL: the database system is
starting up
Aug 27 22:24:48 uab postgres[11326]: [22-1] FATAL: the database system is
starting up
Aug 27 22:24:48 uab postgres[11327]: [22-1] FATAL: the database system is
starting up
Aug 27 22:24:49 uab postgres[11328]: [22-1] FATAL: the database system is
starting up
Aug 27 22:24:49 uab postgres[11329]: [22-1] FATAL: the database system is
starting up
Aug 27 22:24:50 uab postgres[11330]: [22-1] FATAL: the database system is
starting up
Aug 27 22:24:50 uab postgres[11331]: [22-1] FATAL: the database system is
starting up
Aug 27 22:24:51 uab postgres[11322]: [30-1] LOG: recycled transaction log
file "00000158000000A5"
Aug 27 22:24:51 uab postgres[11322]: [31-1] LOG: database system is ready

This is the description of the given table:

> \d uab_message_read;
Table "public.uab_message_read"
Column | Type | Modifiers

-------------+-----------------------+--------------------------------------
----------------------------
id | integer | not null default
nextval('public.uab_message_read_id_seq'::text)
useridfrom | integer | not null default 0
useridto | integer | not null default 0
message | text |
format | integer | not null default 0
timecreated | integer | not null default 0
timeread | integer | not null default 0
messagetype | character varying(50) | not null default ''::character
varying
mailed | integer | not null default 0
Indexes:
"uab_message_read_pkey" primary key, btree (id)
"uab_message_read_useridfrom_idx" btree (useridfrom)
"uab_message_read_useridto_idx" btree (useridto)

As you can infer from that, I also can't dump the table with pg_dump.

Any help will be highly appreciated.