[common; Unix] The area of memory attached to a process by brk(2) and sbrk(2) and used by malloc(3) as dynamic storage. So named from a malloc: corrupt arena message emitted when some early versions detected an impossible value in the free block list. See {overrun screw}, {aliasing bug}, {memory leak}, {memory smash}, {smash the stack}.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {aliasing bug}{fandango on core}{heisenbug}{leaky heap}{overrun screw}]