Memory leaks in C and C++ applications often remain invisible until the system starts slowing down, consuming excessive RAM, or crashing under load. Standard monitoring and logs rarely reveal hidden issues such as silent leaks, misuse of dynamic memory, or undefined behavior inside large server components.

Valgrind is one of the most effective tools for dynamic memory analysis. It runs your application inside a virtual CPU, tracks every allocation, and exposes problems that are almost impossible to detect with regular tests. Memcheck helps identify leaks and invalid memory access, while Massif shows how memory usage grows over time – essential for understanding performance degradation.

If you work with C/C++ software or long-running services, this article will help you detect memory issues before they impact production.