static CURLcode create_conn_helper_init_proxy(struct connectdata *conn)
{
  char *proxy = NULL;
  char *socksproxy = NULL;
  char *no_proxy = NULL;
  CURLcode result = CURLE_OK;
  struct Curl_easy *data = conn->data;

  /*************************************************************
   * Extract the user and password from the authentication string
   *************************************************************/
  if(conn->bits.proxy_user_passwd) {
    result = parse_proxy_auth(data, conn);
    if(result)
      goto out;
  }

  /*************************************************************
   * Detect what (if any) proxy to use
   *************************************************************/
  if(data->set.str[STRING_PROXY]) {
    proxy = strdup(data->set.str[STRING_PROXY]);
    /* if global proxy is set, this is it */
    if(NULL == proxy) {
      failf(data, "memory shortage");
      result = CURLE_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
      goto out;
    }
  }

  if(data->set.str[STRING_PRE_PROXY]) {
    socksproxy = strdup(data->set.str[STRING_PRE_PROXY]);
    /* if global socks proxy is set, this is it */
    if(NULL == socksproxy) {
      failf(data, "memory shortage");
      result = CURLE_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
      goto out;
    }
  }

  if(!data->set.str[STRING_NOPROXY]) {
    const char *p = "no_proxy";
    no_proxy = curl_getenv(p);
    if(!no_proxy) {
      p = "NO_PROXY";
      no_proxy = curl_getenv(p);
    }
    if(no_proxy) {
      infof(conn->data, "Uses proxy env variable %s == '%s'\n", p, no_proxy);
    }
  }

  if(check_noproxy(conn->host.name, data->set.str[STRING_NOPROXY] ?
      data->set.str[STRING_NOPROXY] : no_proxy)) {
    Curl_safefree(proxy);
    Curl_safefree(socksproxy);
  }
#ifndef CURL_DISABLE_HTTP
  else if(!proxy && !socksproxy)
    /* if the host is not in the noproxy list, detect proxy. */
    proxy = detect_proxy(conn);
#endif /* CURL_DISABLE_HTTP */

  Curl_safefree(no_proxy);

#ifdef USE_UNIX_SOCKETS
  /* For the time being do not mix proxy and unix domain sockets. See #1274 */
  if(proxy && conn->unix_domain_socket) {
    free(proxy);
    proxy = NULL;
  }
#endif

  if(proxy && (!*proxy || (conn->handler->flags & PROTOPT_NONETWORK))) {
    free(proxy);  /* Don't bother with an empty proxy string or if the
                     protocol doesn't work with network */
    proxy = NULL;
  }
  if(socksproxy && (!*socksproxy ||
                    (conn->handler->flags & PROTOPT_NONETWORK))) {
    free(socksproxy);  /* Don't bother with an empty socks proxy string or if
                          the protocol doesn't work with network */
    socksproxy = NULL;
  }

  /***********************************************************************
   * If this is supposed to use a proxy, we need to figure out the proxy host
   * name, proxy type and port number, so that we can re-use an existing
   * connection that may exist registered to the same proxy host.
   ***********************************************************************/
  if(proxy || socksproxy) {
    if(proxy) {
      result = parse_proxy(data, conn, proxy, conn->http_proxy.proxytype);
      Curl_safefree(proxy); /* parse_proxy copies the proxy string */
      if(result)
        goto out;
    }

    if(socksproxy) {
      result = parse_proxy(data, conn, socksproxy,
                           conn->socks_proxy.proxytype);
      /* parse_proxy copies the socks proxy string */
      Curl_safefree(socksproxy);
      if(result)
        goto out;
    }

    if(conn->http_proxy.host.rawalloc) {
#ifdef CURL_DISABLE_HTTP
      /* asking for a HTTP proxy is a bit funny when HTTP is disabled... */
      result = CURLE_UNSUPPORTED_PROTOCOL;
      goto out;
#else
      /* force this connection's protocol to become HTTP if compatible */
      if(!(conn->handler->protocol & PROTO_FAMILY_HTTP)) {
        if((conn->handler->flags & PROTOPT_PROXY_AS_HTTP) &&
           !conn->bits.tunnel_proxy)
          conn->handler = &Curl_handler_http;
        else
          /* if not converting to HTTP over the proxy, enforce tunneling */
          conn->bits.tunnel_proxy = TRUE;
      }
      conn->bits.httpproxy = TRUE;
#endif
    }
    else {
      conn->bits.httpproxy = FALSE; /* not a HTTP proxy */
      conn->bits.tunnel_proxy = FALSE; /* no tunneling if not HTTP */
    }

    if(conn->socks_proxy.host.rawalloc) {
      if(!conn->http_proxy.host.rawalloc) {
        /* once a socks proxy */
        if(!conn->socks_proxy.user) {
          conn->socks_proxy.user = conn->http_proxy.user;
          conn->http_proxy.user = NULL;
          Curl_safefree(conn->socks_proxy.passwd);
          conn->socks_proxy.passwd = conn->http_proxy.passwd;
          conn->http_proxy.passwd = NULL;
        }
      }
      conn->bits.socksproxy = TRUE;
    }
    else
      conn->bits.socksproxy = FALSE; /* not a socks proxy */
  }
  else {
    conn->bits.socksproxy = FALSE;
    conn->bits.httpproxy = FALSE;
  }
  conn->bits.proxy = conn->bits.httpproxy || conn->bits.socksproxy;

  if(!conn->bits.proxy) {
    /* we aren't using the proxy after all... */
    conn->bits.proxy = FALSE;
    conn->bits.httpproxy = FALSE;
    conn->bits.socksproxy = FALSE;
    conn->bits.proxy_user_passwd = FALSE;
    conn->bits.tunnel_proxy = FALSE;
  }

out:

  free(socksproxy);
  free(proxy);
  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.