Overview of high memory consumption issues

2025-01-17

This troubleshooting guide provides steps to diagnose and resolve high memory consumption issues in applications, focusing on scenarios involving memory leaks. It helps you understand typical symptoms, limits related to memory usage in different system configurations, and the tools required to diagnose the issue effectively.

Data capture tools

Note

Avoid using Task Manager to collect memory dumps. Specialized tools like DebugDiag and Procdump are more effective for ASP.NET applications as they understand managed code better and handle process bitness automatically.
Multiple attempts might be needed to get a useful set of memory dumps.
Ensure you have sufficient disk space for memory dumps. Each dump is approximately the size of the process at that time. For instance, if the process is 1 gigabyte (GB), generating three dumps requires about 4 GB of space.

Memory limits for different scenarios

Memory leaks generally result in a steady increase in memory usage, leading to crashes or performance degradation:

Note

High memory usage doesn't always indicate a leak; processes might recover if the allocated memory is freed later. A memory leak is caused by one or more bugs in the application where allocations are never freed.

32-bit applications: 32-bit applications might crash and throw an OutOfMemory exception when running out of memory, possibly without reporting errors before crashing. They can behave unpredictably if memory allocation failures aren't handled properly in the application code.
64-bit applications: 64-bit applications rarely fail when trying to allocate virtual memory due to the large address space. However, they can grow to have a very large virtual address space and cause excessive paging of physical memory, which affects the application and other applications that are competing for physical memory.

Scenario	Memory limit	More information
32-bit applications on 32-bit Windows	4 GB in total (2 GB in user mode, 2 GB in kernel mode)	If you use the /LARGEADDRESSAWARE flag in your 32-bit applications and the /3GB switch in the boot.ini file of the operating system during boot time, it makes the user mode memory 3 GB and the kernel mode 1 GB.
32-bit applications on 64-bit Windows	4 GB in total (2 GB in user mode, 2 GB in kernel mode)	If you use the /LARGEADDRESSAWARE flag in your 32-bit applications, it makes the user mode memory 4 GB. The kernel doesn't use the 32-bit address space on a 64-bit operating system. It uses only the required space from the 64-bit address space.
64-bit applications on 64-bit Windows	2^64 bytes = 16 Exabyte (EB) (~100 Crore GB). However, Windows10 x 64 supports 48 bits virtual address: 2^48 bytes = 256 TB (128 TB in user mode, 128 TB in kernel mode).	NA
64-bit applications on 32-bit Windows	Invalid scenario	NA

Identify high memory usage

The simplest way to identify high memory usage is to monitor the Private Bytes (KB) counter using the Worker Processes module of Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager. The Private Bytes (KB) counter indicates the amount of private committed memory used by a process.

To monitor Private Bytes (KB), follow these steps:

Open IIS Manager.
Select your server name (on the left).
Double-click Worker Processes.
Check Private Bytes (KB). Here's a screenshot:

If the Private Bytes (KB) value for the w3wp.exe process (IIS worker process) reaches the memory limit as described in the Memory limits for different scenarios, the w3wp.exe process has a high memory issue. The Process Id and Application Pool Name are shown next to it. You might need to refresh this view manually.

Identify whether the memory leak is managed or native

Once you've confirmed that the w3wp.exe process is experiencing high memory usage, the next step is to identify whether it's a managed or native memory leak. Follow these steps to identify the type of memory leak:

Open Performance Monitor and select the + icon to add counters.
Select # Bytes in all Heaps under the .NET CLR Memory counter, select the target process (here, it's w3wp), and then select Add.
Select Private Bytes and Virtual Bytes under the Process counter, select the target process, and then select Add (you can ignore the working set).
Select OK.
Reproduce the issue.
To verify whether it's a managed or native memory leak, monitor the counters:
- Managed memory leak: If the Private Bytes counter and the Virtual Bytes counter increase at the same rate (the difference between them remains constant), it indicates a managed memory leak.
- Native memory leak: If the Private Bytes counter increases but the # Bytes in all Heaps counter remains constant, it indicates a native memory leak.

Data collection

Once you've confirmed the type of memory leak, the next step is to use tools to collect memory dumps of the process during the high memory usage event. These dumps can help you analyze and diagnose the cause of the issue.

To collect dumps for managed memory leaks, see Data capture for managed memory leaks.
To collect dumps for native memory leaks, see Troubleshoot native memory leak in an IIS 7.x application pool.

.NET Core applications

If the application in question is .NET Core and hosted on IIS in in-process mode, use the data collection steps in Data capture for managed memory leaks. However, if the application is hosted on IIS in out-of-process mode, modify the actions to investigate the dotnet process (dotnet.exe unless otherwise specified) instead of w3wp.exe. The same thing applies to self-hosted .NET Core applications.

Troubleshooting example

Assume you have an application hosted on an IIS server and you experience high memory usage (the memory spikes up to around 7 GB by doing a stress test) when accessing a specific URL, follow these steps to diagnose the issue:

Check Performance Monitor by following the steps in Identify whether the memory leak is managed or native. If you notice the difference between Private Bytes and Virtual Bytes remains constant, it's a managed memory leak.
Collect dump files by following the steps described in Using DebugDiag.

Open the dump files in WinDbg. For high memory scenarios, you can use the following commands:

Command	Usage
`!dumpheap -stat`	This command shows you all objects on the managed heap and their statistics. You can customize the output using the different switches of `!dumpheap` to focus on specific types of objects, sizes, or states, making it easier to analyze the managed heap and identify issues such as memory leaks.
`!eeheap -gc`	This command can be used to get the managed heap size.
`!threads`	This command helps check for any finalizer threads that display all managed threads.
`!finalizequeue`	This command is used to display all objects in the finalize queue.

After running !dumpheap -stat, you see that system.char[], system.Text.Stringbuilder, and BuggyBits.Models.Link consume the most objects on the heap, with counts of 322,547, 322,408, and 320,031.

Note

BuggyBits is the sample application name used in this example. You might see your application name or other process name which might be consuming high objects.

7ff93da4a520      601       1,00,968 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.TagHelpers.ScriptTagHelper 
7ff93dbbe068    2,576       1,03,040 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures.TemplateInfo 
7ff93dcb56f8    1,202       1,05,776 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor.TagHelpers.TagHelperOutput 
7ff93dbff3f0    1,245       1,09,560 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures.HtmlHelper<System.Object> 
7ff93db563b8    1,258       1,10,640 System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair<System.Func<System.Object, System.Threading.Tasks.Task>, System.Object>[] 
7ff93dd01268    4,720       1,13,280 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Html.HtmlContentBuilder 
7ff93dd01b40    4,721       1,13,304 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures.AttributeDictionary 
7ff93da51af0    1,202       1,15,392 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor.Runtime.TagHelpers.TagHelperExecutionContext 
7ff93d230af0    5,013       1,20,312 System.Object 
<<< omitting few to save space>>> 
7ff93dbc4c38      644       1,85,472 AspNetCore.Views_Links_Index 
7ff93dbc7b50      644       1,85,472 AspNetCore.Views__ViewStart 
7ff93d55f218    4,722       1,88,880 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Routing.RouteValuesAddress 
7ff93dbc6fa0      601       2,16,360 AspNetCore.Views_Shared__Layout 
7ff93dd01738    4,720       2,26,560 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Rendering.TagBuilder 
7ff93d236618      990       2,28,360 System.Object[] 
7ff93dade018      644       2,47,296 System.IO.Pipelines.Pipe 
7ff93dad9da0      644       2,57,600 Microsoft.AspNetCore.HttpSys.Internal.RequestHeaders 
7ff93dcf4de8    4,720       2,64,320 System.Linq.Enumerable+<OfTypeIterator>d__61<Microsoft.AspNetCore.Routing.RouteEndpoint> 
7ff93dc9be58    3,711       2,68,368 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures.Buffers.ViewBufferValue[][] 
7ff93dce0188    4,723       3,02,272 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Routing.UrlActionContext 
7ff93dc9b4e0    9,540       3,05,280 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures.Buffers.ViewBufferPage 
7ff93dcb71d0    7,690       3,07,600 Microsoft.Extensions.Internal.CopyOnWriteDictionary<System.Object, System.Object> 
7ff93dcbe430    4,752       3,33,440 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures.Buffers.ViewBufferPage[] 
7ff93dcb7fd8    8,880       3,55,200 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor.TagHelpers.TagHelperAttribute 
7ff93dcb5110    5,925       3,79,200 System.Func<System.Threading.Tasks.Task> 
7ff93db27c10    8,853       3,96,592 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Routing.RouteEndpoint[] 
7ff93dad6a98      644       3,96,704 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.IIS.Core.IISHttpContextOfT<Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting.HostingApplication+Context> 
7ff93dce6a08    4,722       4,15,472 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Routing.Tree.OutboundMatchResult[] 
7ff93d4285d8    4,724       4,15,536 System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair<System.String, System.String>[] 
7ff93dcbdea0   10,694       4,27,760 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor.TagHelpers.DefaultTagHelperContent 
7ff93da559b0   10,097       5,65,432 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures.Buffers.ViewBuffer 
7ff93da46430    4,738       5,68,560 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.TagHelpers.AnchorTagHelper 
7ff93dbf5ea8   10,063       8,05,040 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures.Buffers.ViewBufferTextWriter 
7ff93d94ba98   21,439       8,57,560 Microsoft.AspNetCore.Routing.RouteValueDictionary 
7ff93daabd18   20,881      15,99,832 System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair<System.String, System.Object>[] 
7ff93d2f2360      853      16,53,045 System.Byte[]  
7ff93d2f1e18   23,943      17,47,166 System.String 
7ff93da40928 3,20,031    1,02,40,992 BuggyBits.Models.Link 
7ff93d4b7dc0 3,22,408    1,54,75,584 System.Text.StringBuilder 
017e072f9d90 4,25,254   52,07,33,840 Free 
7ff93d333058 3,22,547 6,40,93,53,398 System.Char[] 
Total 17,82,793 objects, 6,98,09,63,784 bytes

Dump the statistics for various sizes of char[] to find out if there's a pattern (this is a trial-and-error process, so you have to try different sizes to determine where the bulk of the strings are).

Run the command !dumpheap -mt 7ff93d333058 to list all objects on the managed heap that have the specified method table (MT) address 7ff93d333058 for System.Char[].

Address           MT                   Size  
017e076607a0     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e07665640     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e0766a4e0     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e0766f380     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e07674220     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076790c0     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e0767df60     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e07682e00     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e07687ca0     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e0768cb40     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076919e0     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e07696880     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e0769b720     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076a05c0     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076a5460     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076aa300     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076af1a0     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076b4040     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076b8ee0     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076bdd80     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076c2c20     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076c7ac0     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076cc960     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076d1800     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076d66a0     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076db540     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076e03e0     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076e5280     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076ea120     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076eefc0     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076f3e60     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076f8d00     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e076fdba0     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e07702a40     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e077078e0     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e0770c780     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e07711620     7ff93d333058         20,024  
017e077164c0     7ff93d333058         20,024

You can see that most of them are the same size. And you can see the following statistics:

Statistics: 
MT              Count      TotalSize           Class Name 
7ff93d333058    55,862     1,11,21,80,222      System.Char[] 
Total 55,862 objects, 1,11,21,80,222 bytes

Dump a few of them to find out what they contain.

0:000> !do  017e9a469e08  
Name:        System.Char[] 
MethodTable: 00007ff93d333058 
EEClass:     00007ff93d332fd8 
Size:        20024(0x4e38) bytes 
Array:       Rank 1, Number of elements 10000, Type Char (Print Array) 
Content:     http://blogs.msdn.com/tom....................................................................................................... 
Fields: 
None 
0:000> !do 017e9a464f10  
Name:        System.Char[] 
MethodTable: 00007ff93d333058 
EEClass:     00007ff93d332fd8 
Size:        20024(0x4e38) bytes 
Array:       Rank 1, Number of elements 10000, Type Char (Print Array) 
Content:     http://blogs.msdn.com/jamesche.................................................................................................. 
Fields:

Now, you need to know why they're not collected.

If you run gcroot on some of those addresses, and you see a finalizer queue:

0:000> !gcroot 017e9a469e08 
Finalizer Queue: 
000001831657ced0 (finalizer root) 
       -> 017e9a469da0     BuggyBits.Models.Link  
       -> 017e9a469dc0     System.Text.StringBuilder  
       -> 017e9a469e08     System.Char[]

Check the finalizer thread to see what it's doing.

Run !threads to list all threads and show their states. You see thread 42 has a finalizer:

0:000> !threads 
ThreadCount:      86 
UnstartedThread:  0 
BackgroundThread: 36 
PendingThread:    0 
DeadThread:       49 
Hosted Runtime:   no 
                                                                                                            Lock   
 DBG   ID     OSID ThreadOBJ         State   GC Mode     GC Alloc Context                  Domain           Count Apt Exception 
  24    1     7f04 0000017E06A683A0  202a020 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     MTA  
  42    2     c588 0000017E06A435C0  202b220 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     MTA (Finalizer)  
  44    3     ca94 0000017E06A45BA0  102a220 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     MTA (Threadpool Worker)
XXXX    4        0 0000017E06A448B0  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
  45    6     7424 0000017E06A45550  8029220 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     MTA (Threadpool Completion Port)  
  46    7     ad48 0000017E06A44F00  202b220 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     MTA  
  19   11     c1a0 0000018315B92F90    20220 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn  
XXXX   13        0 0000018315B922F0  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX   15        0 0000018315B96EB0  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX   16        0 0000018315B92940  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX   17        0 0000018315B93C30  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
  15   18     b878 0000018315B94280    20220 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn  
  17   19     9960 0000018315B91000    20220 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn  
  18   20     90cc 0000018315B90360    20220 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn  
XXXX   14        0 0000018315B935E0  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX   12        0 0000018315B948D0  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX    5        0 0000018315B95570  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX   21        0 0000018315B8FD10  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX   22        0 0000018315B91650  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX   23        0 0000018315B96210  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX   24        0 0000018315B909B0  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
  16   27      6bc 0000018315B95BC0    20220 Preemptive  00000180E160EEF0:00000180E160F250 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn  
  14   28     c284 0000018315B96860    20220 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn  
XXXX   29        0 0000017E06A461F0  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX   30        0 0000018315BC7E90  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX   31        0 0000018315BC7840  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX   32        0 0000018315BC6BA0  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX   34        0 0000018315BC6550  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX   38        0 0000018315BC58B0  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX   39        0 0000018315BC84E0  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX   40        0 0000018315BC1990  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
   7   41     c4cc 0000018315BC5F00    20220 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn  
XXXX   42        0 0000018315BC1FE0  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX   43        0 0000018315BC2630  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX   44        0 0000018315BC2C80  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
   9   48     b838 0000018315BC45C0    20220 Preemptive  0000017EE1D45B38:0000017EE1D45FD0 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn  
   5   49      a40 0000018315BC4C10    20220 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn  
XXXX   50        0 0000018315D0AA30  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX   51        0 0000018315D06B10  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
XXXX   52        0 0000018315D0C370  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
   8   53     7024 0000018315D05820    20220 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn  
XXXX   54        0 0000018315D077B0  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
  11   55     7068 0000018315D05E70    20220 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn  
  10   56     c0ac 0000018315D090F0    20220 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn  
XXXX   63        0 00000183158CA200  1039820 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn (Threadpool Worker)  
   4   64     83d0 00000183158CAEA0    20220 Preemptive  0000018121307DF8:0000018121307FD0 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn  
   6   65     beb4 0000018315894860    20220 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn  
  48   66     cad4 0000018315D0B6D0    21220 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn  
  49   67     94f8 0000018315D0A3E0    21220 Preemptive  0000000000000000:0000000000000000 0000017e06237220 0     Ukn

Dump thread 42 and check the stack, and then you see buggybits.models.link calling some Thread.Sleep:

0:042> k 
*** WARNING: Unable to verify checksum for BuggyBits.dll 
#  Child-SP          RetAddr               Call Site
00 00000027`987ff4e8 00007ffa`98245683     ntdll!NtDelayExecution+0x14
01 00000027`987ff4f0 00007ffa`9593993d     ntdll!RtlDelayExecution+0x43
02 00000027`987ff520 00007ff9`9cce7404     KERNELBASE!SleepEx+0x7d
03 (Inline Function) --------`--------     coreclr!EESleepEx+0xd
04 00000027`987ff5a0 00007ff9`9cce72ed     coreclr!Thread::UserSleep+0xbc
05 00000027`987ff600 00007ff9`9c7ec46b     coreclr!ThreadNative::Sleep+0xad
06 00000027`987ff750 00007ff9`3ddd6eac     System_Private_CoreLib!System.Threading.Thread.Sleep+0xb
07 00000027`987ff780 00007ff9`9cd86c16     BuggyBits!BuggyBits.Models.Link.Finalize+0x1c
08 00000027`987ff7c0 00007ff9`9cd28bf7     coreclr!FastCallFinalizeWorker+0x6
09 00000027`987ff7f0 00007ff9`9cd28ad2     coreclr!MethodTable::CallFinalizer+0x97
0a (Inline Function) --------`--------     coreclr!CallFinalizer+0x3d
0b (Inline Function) --------`--------     coreclr!FinalizerThread::DoOneFinalization+0x3d
0c 00000027`987ff830 00007ff9`9cd284f7     coreclr!FinalizerThread::FinalizeAllObjects+0xda
0d 00000027`987ff920 00007ff9`9cd293c2     coreclr!FinalizerThread::FinalizerThreadWorker+0x97
0e (Inline Function) --------`--------     coreclr!ManagedThreadBase_DispatchInner+0xd
0f 00000027`987ff960 00007ff9`9cd292af     coreclr!ManagedThreadBase_DispatchMiddle+0x7e
10 00000027`987ffa80 00007ff9`9cc85f3a     coreclr!ManagedThreadBase_DispatchOuter+0xaf
11 (Inline Function) --------`--------     coreclr!ManagedThreadBase_NoADTransition+0x28
12 (Inline Function) --------`--------     coreclr!ManagedThreadBase::FinalizerBase+0x28
13 00000027`987ffb20 00007ff9`9cd734ca     coreclr!FinalizerThread::FinalizerThreadStart+0x7a
14 00000027`987ffc40 00007ffa`9725257d     coreclr!Thread::intermediateThreadProc+0x8a
15 00000027`987ffd00 00007ffa`9824af28     kernel32!BaseThreadInitThunk+0x1d
16 00000027`987ffd30 00000000`00000000     ntdll!RtlUserThreadStart+0x28

Check the following code snippet in the Link.cs file, and you'll see that there's an explicit call to Thread.Sleep, which is causing high memory usage.

Note

As mentioned earlier in the article, BuggyBits and the following code snippet are specific to the sample application used to create this example.Check your application code if you come across a similar scenario and found a specific method in your application that's causing high memory issue based on the dump analysis.
```
// BuggyBits.Models.Link 
// Flags = reuse slot, hide by signature 
protected override void Finalize() 
{ 
  try 
  { 
    System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(5000); 
  } 
  finally 
  { 
    base.Finalize(); 
  } 
  return; 
} 
```

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Overview of high memory consumption issues

Data capture tools

Memory limits for different scenarios

Identify high memory usage

Identify whether the memory leak is managed or native

Data collection

.NET Core applications

Troubleshooting example

More information

Feedback

Additional resources