Understanding C Memory Management: A Deep Dive into Stacks, Heaps, and Leaks

This article provides a detailed explanation of C's memory management, starting with how programs use memory and progressing through the roles of the stack and heap, the usage of malloc() and free(), and the causes of memory leaks and Use After Free (UAF) vulnerabilities. Using a simple example, the author demonstrates manual memory management and explains the inner workings of a memory allocator (malloc), including memory fragmentation. Suitable for readers with some programming experience, this article enhances understanding of memory management and helps avoid common memory errors.