Upgrading from ctools v1.7 to v1.8 or v1.9 breaks site with infinite loop using up all memory

Allocating 1gig of ram to a dev environment on my laptop (even tried 14gb too), when upgrading files to ctools v1.8 or v1.9 and then running update.php script, next visit to any page on the site shows:

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 1073741824 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 52 bytes) in /srv/http_vhost/rugcompany/public_html/includes/menu.inc on line 347

same for 14gb

I glanced at the entries in menu_router database, and noticed that there are 100 less entries in the table after the update.

I'm not sure where to begin to figure out the source for the problem, but I did tinker around with some of the files in the ctools directory to try to investigate. However, I'm not familiar with what is(are) the source file(s) for the change in menu_router database.

Any assistance to resolve this issue for my installation/setup of Drupal 7.x site would be greatly appreciated.

Update

I believe I have determined that the issue I am experiencing is not related to ctools, and I am uncertain where the issue comes from.

Temporarily modifying the Drupal core php files to diagnose what the source of the issue is, here are my notes:

This issue occurs immediately after running /update.php.

In /update.php:111 if (empty($count)) {

the if condition evaluates as TRUE and proceeds with parsing inside the block.

if I comment out line 119: drupal_flush_all_caches();

and then initiate the /update.php update process, then the site does not result in memory to be exhausted. Uncommenting the line and initiating it again results in the site to no longer work due to memory being exhausted.

I'm confused because even if I clear cache using flush all caches /admin_menu/flush-cache, clear cache /devel/cache/clear or `drush cc all` the site works fine afterwards, but when processed through the /update.php script (also `drush cc all`) then the site no longer works. =/

Additional notes:

after restoring my backup database, menu_router table has 1327 rows
after running /admin_menu/flush-cache, menu_router table has 1327 rows (diff shows that only access time values are different)
after running /devel/cache/clear, menu_router table has 1327 rows (diff shows that only access time values are different)
after running `drush cc all`, menu_router table has 1327 rows (diff shows that only access time values are different)
after running /update.php (with line 119: drupal_flush_all_caches() commented out), menu_router table has 1327 rows (diff shows identical match, access time values are the same)

but after running /update.php (without any modifications), ..... 100 rows are missing, menu_router table has only 1227 rows.

Excluding the access time values (changed to 0xblah for debugging), the differences are http://pastebin.ca/3126831

-

Other than differences in menu_router table (and also excluding cache tables), I notice the following additional differences comparing (1) after restored db backup + cleared caches to (2) after running /update.php

table menu_links
1: Next autoindex 2,081
2: Next autoindex 2,119
(and also some differences in BLOB data for menu_name "management" mlid 1 -- this may be important, it's a lot of data)
1: http://pastebin.ca/3127021
2: http://pastebin.ca/3127023

table menu_router
1: http://pastebin.ca/3127026
2: http://pastebin.ca/3127027

table multiblock
1:
2: extra row with ('menu_rebuild','108192853355db712d709311.96990344',1440444747.6834)

table sessions
(not important/relevant)

table system
1: Data indicates system module enabled
2: Data indicates system module disabled
(not important/relevant)

table variable
1&2: (minor: Different random value for 'css_js_query_string')
2: (minor: Additional value for 'menu_rebuild_needed')

table watchdog
(not important/relevant)