Memory leaks in C++ is a huge production risk

This code insight counts a violation each time a Call free or delete to free the memory. List all locations where a memory allocation is created (malloc/calloc/realloc, new, and std::auto_ptr.release()) that is not freed (using free or delete).

void f()
{
int *array = calloc(1024, sizeof(int));
/* Do some work with array here */
// VIOLATION: Memory not freed
}

Remedy

void f()
{
int *array = calloc(1024, sizeof(int));
/* Do some work with array here */
free(array); // REMEDIATION
}

Why you should care

Memory leaks ultimately mean available memory is gradually reduced leading to various problems ranging from poor responsiveness to a system/application crash

Business Impacts

Production Risk

CAST recommendations

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_leak

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