Common Weakness Enumeration

    CWE Definition / CWE-416

    CWE-416: Use After Free

    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 Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory belongs to the code that operates on the new pointer.

    Published:19 Jul 2006
    Organization:MITRE
    Modified:30 Apr 2026

    Related Weakness

    CWE-825: Expired Pointer Dereference

    CWE-672: Operation on a Resource after Expiration or Release

    CWE-672: Operation on a Resource after Expiration or Release

    CWE-672: Operation on a Resource after Expiration or Release

    CWE-120: Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input ('Classic Buffer Overflow')

    CWE-123: Write-what-where Condition