diff --git a/components/nes/nofrendo/cpu/nes6502.c b/components/nes/nofrendo/cpu/nes6502.c
index 3426013e..887176aa 100644
--- a/components/nes/nofrendo/cpu/nes6502.c
+++ b/components/nes/nofrendo/cpu/nes6502.c
@@ -1283,6 +1283,17 @@ void nes6502_setcontext(nes6502_context *context)
    stack = ram + STACK_OFFSET;
 }
 
+/* Drop cached pointers into shared memory. The dead page is allocated once via
+** _my_malloc() and cached in null_page; when the shared memory pool is freed
+** (NES teardown) that pointer dangles, so it must be nulled here or the next
+** load reuses freed memory (use-after-free -> heap corruption). */
+void nes6502_release_memory(void)
+{
+   null_page = NULL;
+   ram = NULL;
+   stack = NULL;
+}
+
 /* get the current context */
 void nes6502_getcontext(nes6502_context *context)
 {
diff --git a/components/nes/nofrendo/nes/nes_ppu.c b/components/nes/nofrendo/nes/nes_ppu.c
index a5f33f14..2a787b40 100644
--- a/components/nes/nofrendo/nes/nes_ppu.c
+++ b/components/nes/nofrendo/nes/nes_ppu.c
@@ -60,6 +60,15 @@ void ppu_displaysprites(bool display)
    ppu->drawsprites = display;
 }
 
+/* Drop the cached PPU working context. ppu is allocated once via _my_malloc()
+** in ppu_setcontext(); when shared memory is freed (NES teardown) that pointer
+** dangles, so null it here or the next load writes through a freed pointer
+** (use-after-free -> heap corruption). */
+void ppu_release_memory(void)
+{
+   ppu = NULL;
+}
+
 void ppu_setcontext(ppu_t *src_ppu)
 {
    int nametab[4];
diff --git a/components/nes/src/nes_shared_memory.c b/components/nes/src/nes_shared_memory.c
index b6eabc08..37e7ce32 100644
--- a/components/nes/src/nes_shared_memory.c
+++ b/components/nes/src/nes_shared_memory.c
@@ -51,6 +51,16 @@ void nes_init_shared_memory(void) {
     nes_cpu = (nes6502_context *)_my_malloc(sizeof(nes6502_context));
 }
 
+// nofrendo caches working buffers in file-static pointers that are allocated
+// once via _my_malloc() (the 6502 dead page; the PPU working context). Those
+// live in the shared pool that shared_mem_clear() is about to free, so we must
+// drop the cached pointers or the next NES load reuses freed memory
+// (use-after-free -> heap corruption).
+extern void nes6502_release_memory(void);
+extern void ppu_release_memory(void);
+
 void nes_free_shared_memory(void) {
+    nes6502_release_memory();
+    ppu_release_memory();
     shared_mem_clear();
 }