Memory Leaks
Last Updated: December 6, 2025
6 min read
Understanding Memory Leaks
To kick things off, let’s clarify exactly what a memory leak is. At its core, a memory leak happens when your program allocates memory but fails to free it.
This can lead to an application gradually consuming more and more memory, eventually exhausting available resources.
How Do Memory Leaks Occur?
Memory leaks typically arise in a few scenarios:
- Unreleased Dynamic Memory: If you allocate memory with
newbut forget to calldelete, that memory remains allocated even after it's no longer in use. - Lost References: If you overwrite a pointer that points to dynamically allocated memory without first freeing it, you lose the reference to that memory, making it impossible to deallocate.
- Circular References: When two or more objects reference each other, they can create a situation where their memory is never freed.
The Impact of Memory Leaks
Memory leaks can be problematic. Over time, they can lead to increased memory consumption, which slows down your application or even causes it to crash. This is especially critical in long-running applications, like servers or embedded systems, where memory resources are limited.