CWEweakness

CWE-244 Improper Clearing of Heap Memory Before Release

Official page ↗
Alternate terms
Heap Inspection
Abstraction
Variant
Structure
Simple
Status
Draft
Languages
C, C++, Memory-Unsafe
CWE version
5.0

Description

The product uses realloc() to resize buffers that contain sensitive information.

Common consequences

• Confidentiality, Other: Read Memory, Other — Since realloc() leaves the contents of the original block intact but inaccessible to the program, this the program from being able to scrub sensitive data from memory. When sensitive data such as a password or an encryption key is not removed from memory, an attacker could use "heap inspection" to read the sensitive data using memory dumps or other methods.

Detection methods

• Automated Static Analysis: Automated static analysis, commonly referred to as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), can find some instances of this weakness by analyzing source code (or binary/compiled code) without having to execute it. Typically, this is done by building a model of data flow and control flow, then searching for potentially-vulnerable patterns that connect "sources" (origins of input) with "sinks" (destinations where the data interacts with external components, a lower layer such as the OS, etc.)

Observed examples

• CVE-2019-3733: Cryptography library does not clear heap memory before release

Related

Observed example · CVE (1)

  • CVE-2019-3733 RSA BSAFE Crypto-C Micro Edition, all versions prior to 4.1.4, is vulnerable to three (3) different Improper Clearing of Heap Memory Before… vulnerability

Can precede · CWE (1)

  • CWE-669 Incorrect Resource Transfer Between Spheres weakness

Child of · CWE (1)

  • CWE-226 Sensitive Information in Resource Not Removed Before Reuse weakness

Referenced by CVE · weakness (22)

  • CVE-2026-1510 IBM Concert 1.0 through 3.0.0 is vulnerable to Information Disclosure via Heap Inspection. vulnerability
  • CVE-2026-20349 A vulnerability in the Remote Access SSL VPN service for Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Secure… vulnerability
  • CVE-2026-48025 nebula-mesh is a self-hosted control plane for Slack Nebula mesh virtual private network. vulnerability
  • CVE-2025-70873 An information disclosure issue in the zipfileInflate function in the zipfile extension in SQLite v3.51.1 and earlier allows attackers to… vulnerability
  • CVE-2026-20039 A vulnerability in the VPN web server of Cisco Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Secure Firewall Threat… vulnerability
  • CVE-2025-33101 IBM Concert 1.0.0 through 2.1.0 could allow an attacker to obtain sensitive information using man in the middle techniques due to improper… vulnerability
  • CVE-2025-1719 IBM Concert 1.0.0 through 2.1.0 could allow a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information from allocated memory due to improper… vulnerability
  • CVE-2025-1722 IBM Concert 1.0.0 through 2.1.0 could allow a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information from allocated memory due to improper… vulnerability
  • CVE-2025-1721 IBM Concert 1.0.0 through 2.1.0 could allow a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information from allocated memory due to improper… vulnerability
  • CVE-2025-36118 IBM Storage Virtualize 8.4, 8.5, 8.7, and 9.1 IKEv1 implementation allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information from device… vulnerability
  • CVE-2025-45663 An issue in NetSurf v3.11 causes the application to read uninitialized heap memory when creating a dom_event structure. vulnerability
  • CVE-2025-36083 IBM Concert Software 1.0.0 through 2.0.0 could allow a local user to obtain sensitive information from buffers due to improper clearing of… vulnerability
  • CVE-2025-1759 IBM Concert Software 1.0.0 through 1.1.0 could allow a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information from allocated memory due to… vulnerability
  • CVE-2025-33013 IBM MQ Operator LTS 2.0.0 through 2.0.29, MQ Operator CD 3.0.0, 3.0.1, 3.1.0 through 3.1.3, 3.3.0, 3.4.0, 3.4.1, 3.5.0, 3.5.1, 3.6.0, and… vulnerability
  • CVE-2025-5105 A vulnerability was found in TOZED ZLT W51 up to 1.4.2 and classified as critical. vulnerability
  • CVE-2025-26304 A memory leak has been identified in the parseSWF_EXPORTASSETS function in util/parser.c of libming v0.4.8. vulnerability
  • CVE-2025-26305 A memory leak has been identified in the parseSWF_SOUNDINFO function in util/parser.c of libming v0.4.8, which allows attackers to cause a… vulnerability
  • CVE-2023-20031 A vulnerability in the SSL/TLS certificate handling of Snort 3 Detection Engine integration with Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD)… vulnerability
  • CVE-2023-20070 A vulnerability in the TLS 1.3 implementation of the Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote… vulnerability
  • CVE-2023-20177 A vulnerability in the SSL file policy implementation of Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software that occurs when the SSL/TLS… vulnerability
  • CVE-2022-20922 Multiple vulnerabilities in the Server Message Block Version 2 (SMB2) processor of the Snort detection engine on multiple Cisco products… vulnerability
  • CVE-2022-20943 Multiple vulnerabilities in the Server Message Block Version 2 (SMB2) processor of the Snort detection engine on multiple Cisco products… vulnerability

Referenced by CWE · has member (1)