static CURLcode parse_connect_to_host_port(struct Curl_easy *data,
                                           const char *host,
                                           char **hostname_result,
                                           int *port_result)
{
  char *host_dup;
  char *hostptr;
  char *host_portno;
  char *portptr;
  int port = -1;

#if defined(CURL_DISABLE_VERBOSE_STRINGS)
  (void) data;
#endif

  *hostname_result = NULL;
  *port_result = -1;

  if(!host || !*host)
    return CURLE_OK;

  host_dup = strdup(host);
  if(!host_dup)
    return CURLE_OUT_OF_MEMORY;

  hostptr = host_dup;

  /* start scanning for port number at this point */
  portptr = hostptr;

  /* detect and extract RFC6874-style IPv6-addresses */
  if(*hostptr == '[') {
#ifdef ENABLE_IPV6
    char *ptr = ++hostptr; /* advance beyond the initial bracket */
    while(*ptr && (ISXDIGIT(*ptr) || (*ptr == ':') || (*ptr == '.')))
      ptr++;
    if(*ptr == '%') {
      /* There might be a zone identifier */
      if(strncmp("%25", ptr, 3))
        infof(data, "Please URL encode %% as %%25, see RFC 6874.\n");
      ptr++;
      /* Allow unreserved characters as defined in RFC 3986 */
      while(*ptr && (ISALPHA(*ptr) || ISXDIGIT(*ptr) || (*ptr == '-') ||
                     (*ptr == '.') || (*ptr == '_') || (*ptr == '~')))
        ptr++;
    }
    if(*ptr == ']')
      /* yeps, it ended nicely with a bracket as well */
      *ptr++ = '\0';
    else
      infof(data, "Invalid IPv6 address format\n");
    portptr = ptr;
    /* Note that if this didn't end with a bracket, we still advanced the
     * hostptr first, but I can't see anything wrong with that as no host
     * name nor a numeric can legally start with a bracket.
     */
#else
    failf(data, "Use of IPv6 in *_CONNECT_TO without IPv6 support built-in!");
    free(host_dup);
    return CURLE_NOT_BUILT_IN;
#endif
  }

  /* Get port number off server.com:1080 */
  host_portno = strchr(portptr, ':');
  if(host_portno) {
    char *endp = NULL;
    *host_portno = '\0'; /* cut off number from host name */
    host_portno++;
    if(*host_portno) {
      long portparse = strtol(host_portno, &endp, 10);
      if((endp && *endp) || (portparse < 0) || (portparse > 65535)) {
        infof(data, "No valid port number in connect to host string (%s)\n",
              host_portno);
        hostptr = NULL;
        port = -1;
      }
      else
        port = (int)portparse; /* we know it will fit */
    }
  }

  /* now, clone the cleaned host name */
  if(hostptr) {
    *hostname_result = strdup(hostptr);
    if(!*hostname_result) {
      free(host_dup);
      return CURLE_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
    }
  }

  *port_result = port;

  free(host_dup);
  return CURLE_OK;
}

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.