- What is CWE-416?
- The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.
- What CVEs are caused by CWE-416?
- 3,752 recorded CVEs are attributed to CWE-416, including CVE-2025-24085, CVE-2025-43529, CVE-2023-43000. 101 are listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.
- How do you prevent CWE-416?
- Choose a language that provides automatic memory management.
- How is CWE-416 detected?
- Fuzzing: Fuzz testing (fuzzing) is a powerful technique for generating large numbers of diverse inputs - either randomly or algorithmically - and dynamically invoking the code with those inputs. Even with random inputs, it is often capable of generating unexpected results such as crashes, memory corruption, or resource consumption. Fuzzing effectively produces repeatable test cases that clearly indicate bugs, which helps developers to diagnose the issues.
- What are the consequences of CWE-416?
- Exploiting CWE-416 can lead to: Modify Memory, DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart, Read Memory, Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands.
- Is CWE-416 actively exploited?
- Yes. 101 CWE-416 vulnerabilities are in CISA's KEV catalog of actively exploited flaws, out of 3,752 recorded CVEs.
