CURLcode Curl_setup_conn(struct connectdata *conn,
                         bool *protocol_done)
{
  CURLcode result = CURLE_OK;
  struct Curl_easy *data = conn->data;

  Curl_pgrsTime(data, TIMER_NAMELOOKUP);

  if(conn->handler->flags & PROTOPT_NONETWORK) {
    /* nothing to setup when not using a network */
    *protocol_done = TRUE;
    return result;
  }
  *protocol_done = FALSE; /* default to not done */

  /* set proxy_connect_closed to false unconditionally already here since it
     is used strictly to provide extra information to a parent function in the
     case of proxy CONNECT failures and we must make sure we don't have it
     lingering set from a previous invoke */
  conn->bits.proxy_connect_closed = FALSE;

  /*
   * Set user-agent. Used for HTTP, but since we can attempt to tunnel
   * basically anything through a http proxy we can't limit this based on
   * protocol.
   */
  if(data->set.str[STRING_USERAGENT]) {
    Curl_safefree(conn->allocptr.uagent);
    conn->allocptr.uagent =
      aprintf("User-Agent: %s\r\n", data->set.str[STRING_USERAGENT]);
    if(!conn->allocptr.uagent)
      return CURLE_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
  }

  data->req.headerbytecount = 0;

#ifdef CURL_DO_LINEEND_CONV
  data->state.crlf_conversions = 0; /* reset CRLF conversion counter */
#endif /* CURL_DO_LINEEND_CONV */

  /* set start time here for timeout purposes in the connect procedure, it
     is later set again for the progress meter purpose */
  conn->now = Curl_now();

  if(CURL_SOCKET_BAD == conn->sock[FIRSTSOCKET]) {
    conn->bits.tcpconnect[FIRSTSOCKET] = FALSE;
    result = Curl_connecthost(conn, conn->dns_entry);
    if(result)
      return result;
  }
  else {
    Curl_pgrsTime(data, TIMER_CONNECT);    /* we're connected already */
    Curl_pgrsTime(data, TIMER_APPCONNECT); /* we're connected already */
    conn->bits.tcpconnect[FIRSTSOCKET] = TRUE;
    *protocol_done = TRUE;
    Curl_updateconninfo(conn, conn->sock[FIRSTSOCKET]);
    Curl_verboseconnect(conn);
  }

  conn->now = Curl_now(); /* time this *after* the connect is done, we set
                             this here perhaps a second time */
  return result;
}

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 Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory belongs to the code that operates on the new pointer.