Kelsidavis-WoWee/docs/memory_leak_report.md

Memory Leak Analysis Report

Date: 2026-03-17
Repository: WoWee

Scope

• Reviewed explicit heap allocation sites in src/ and include/.
• Traced allocation/free paths for:
  • new / delete
  • malloc / free
  • Warden emulator virtual heap allocation
• Focus was on leak behavior during long-running sessions.

Finding

1) Warden emulator heap growth leak (fixed)

• Location: src/game/warden_emulator.cpp
• Root cause:
  • allocateMemory() used a bump pointer (nextHeapAddr_) only.
  • freeMemory() removed entries from allocations_, but freed ranges were never reused.
  • Result: repeated VirtualAlloc/VirtualFree patterns still advanced heap head until exhaustion.

Impact

• Emulated heap (HEAP_SIZE = 16MB) could exhaust over time despite correct frees.
• This can break Warden module execution paths in extended sessions.

Patch Summary

• Added a free-list map in WardenEmulator to track reusable blocks.
• Updated allocator to use first-fit from free-list before bump allocation.
• Added adjacent block coalescing in freeMemory().
• Added top-of-heap rollback when highest free block touches current bump pointer.
• Reset allocator state on initialize() to avoid stale state across reinitialization.

Changed Files

• include/game/warden_emulator.hpp
• src/game/warden_emulator.cpp

Notes

• This was a static code analysis pass (no full runtime sanitizer execution in this environment).
• No other definite leaks were confirmed in this pass.