CWE-401 - Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime
- Abstraction:Variant
- Structure:Simple
- Status:Draft
- Release Date:2006-07-19
- Latest Modification Date:2025-04-03
Weakness Name
Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime
Description
The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, making the memory unavailable for reallocation and reuse.
Common Consequences
Scope: Availability
Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart, DoS: Instability, DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU), DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory)
Notes: Most memory leaks result in general product reliability problems, but if an attacker can intentionally trigger a memory leak, the attacker might be able to launch a denial of service attack (by crashing or hanging the program) or take advantage of other unexpected program behavior resulting from a low memory condition.
Scope: Other
Impact: Reduce Performance
Related Weaknesses
CWE-404Improper Resource Shutdown or ReleaseMedium
CWE-772Missing Release of Resource after Effective LifetimeHigh