From 29a5c914c8ba83a4c6a32ad5c0d439d09eb416bb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Alexei Margasov <alexei@margasov.ru>
Date: Mon, 11 May 2026 16:12:23 +0500
Subject: [PATCH] lib/streamaggr: fix stale quantiles output (#10918)

### Describe Your Changes

Fix stale `quantiles(...)` stream aggregation output for series without
samples in the current aggregation interval.

Previously, `quantilesAggrConfig` reused the `quantiles` buffer across
aggregation values. If `quantilesAggrValue.flush` was called for a
series without samples after another series had already calculated
quantiles, the stale quantile
values could be emitted for the empty series.

This could produce unrealistic `*_quantiles` output values and make the
same aggregated value appear across unrelated labelsets.

The PR skips `quantiles(...)` output when there is no histogram for the
current interval and adds a regression test for this case.

### Checklist

The following checks are **mandatory**:

- [x] My change adheres to [VictoriaMetrics contributing
guidelines](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/contributing/#pull-request-checklist).
- [x] My change adheres to [VictoriaMetrics development
goals](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/goals/).

---------

Co-authored-by: hagen1778 <roman@victoriametrics.com>
(cherry picked from commit 20d4314168c6f3ec10683c3b8d6284412ce3135c)
---
 docs/victoriametrics/changelog/CHANGELOG.md |  2 ++
 lib/streamaggr/quantiles.go                 | 26 +++++++++++----------
 lib/streamaggr/streamaggr_synctest_test.go  | 13 +++++++++++
 3 files changed, 29 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)

diff --git a/docs/victoriametrics/changelog/CHANGELOG.md b/docs/victoriametrics/changelog/CHANGELOG.md
index 1d27d76433..2d94ca3788 100644
--- a/docs/victoriametrics/changelog/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/docs/victoriametrics/changelog/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ See also [LTS releases](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/lts-rel
 
 ## tip
 
+* BUGFIX: [stream aggregation](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/victoriametrics/stream-aggregation/): stop emitting stale values for `quantiles(...)` outputs when a time series has no samples during the current aggregation interval. Thanks to @alexei38 for the [pull request](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/pull/10918).
+
 ## [v1.143.0](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.143.0)
 
 Released at 2026-05-08
diff --git a/lib/streamaggr/quantiles.go b/lib/streamaggr/quantiles.go
index c351b63fcb..98db910cbe 100644
--- a/lib/streamaggr/quantiles.go
+++ b/lib/streamaggr/quantiles.go
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 package streamaggr
 
 import (
+	"strconv"
+
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/bytesutil"
 	"github.com/valyala/histogram"
-	"strconv"
 )
 
 // quantilesAggrValue calculates output=quantiles, e.g. the given quantiles over the input samples.
@@ -19,18 +20,19 @@ func (av *quantilesAggrValue) pushSample(_ aggrConfig, sample *pushSample, _ str
 }
 
 func (av *quantilesAggrValue) flush(c aggrConfig, ctx *flushCtx, key string, _ bool) {
-	ac := c.(*quantilesAggrConfig)
-	if av.h != nil {
-		ac.quantiles = av.h.Quantiles(ac.quantiles[:0], ac.phis)
-		histogram.PutFast(av.h)
-		av.h = nil
+	if av.h == nil {
+		return
 	}
-	if len(ac.quantiles) > 0 {
-		for i, quantile := range ac.quantiles {
-			ac.b = strconv.AppendFloat(ac.b[:0], ac.phis[i], 'g', -1, 64)
-			phiStr := bytesutil.InternBytes(ac.b)
-			ctx.appendSeriesWithExtraLabel(key, "quantiles", quantile, "quantile", phiStr)
-		}
+	ac := c.(*quantilesAggrConfig)
+	ac.quantiles = av.h.Quantiles(ac.quantiles[:0], ac.phis)
+	histogram.PutFast(av.h)
+	// reset h to avoid producing stale results on the next flush if av didn't get new pushSample() calls
+	av.h = nil
+
+	for i, quantile := range ac.quantiles {
+		ac.b = strconv.AppendFloat(ac.b[:0], ac.phis[i], 'g', -1, 64)
+		phiStr := bytesutil.InternBytes(ac.b)
+		ctx.appendSeriesWithExtraLabel(key, "quantiles", quantile, "quantile", phiStr)
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/streamaggr/streamaggr_synctest_test.go b/lib/streamaggr/streamaggr_synctest_test.go
index 1cb016e3d6..509529578d 100644
--- a/lib/streamaggr/streamaggr_synctest_test.go
+++ b/lib/streamaggr/streamaggr_synctest_test.go
@@ -634,6 +634,19 @@ cpu_usage:1m_without_cpu_quantiles{quantile="1"} 90
   outputs: ["quantiles(0, 0.5, 1)"]
 `, "1111111")
 
+	// no stale quantiles should be produced
+	f([]string{`
+cpu_usage{cpu="1"} 3
+cpu_usage{cpu="2"} 3`,
+		`cpu_usage{cpu="2"} 4`,
+	}, time.Minute, `cpu_usage:1m_quantiles{cpu="1",quantile="1"} 3
+cpu_usage:1m_quantiles{cpu="2",quantile="1"} 3
+cpu_usage:1m_quantiles{cpu="2",quantile="1"} 4
+`, `
+- interval: 1m
+  outputs: ["quantiles(1)"]
+`, "111")
+
 	// append additional label
 	f([]string{`
 foo{abc="123"} 4