The memory from a bytevector of which a pointer is taken (with 'bytevector->pointer') can be overwritten even if that pointer has been put inside a guardian. 'make-c-struct' from (system foreign) is using 'bytevector->pointer'. With the test script attached: $ guile -v | head -1 guile (GNU Guile) 2.0.6.8-cc26b9-dirty $ guile --no-auto-compile -s test.scm # #vu8(1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1) #vu8(1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1) #vu8(110 103 45 108 101 110 103 116 104 0) <<<< memory overwrite with "ng-length\0" from module # $ With auto compilation turned on, it looks like the problem can not be reproduced. -- Patrick Bernaud