diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index e82ffc50426..ec7c542a11f 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@ PHP                                                                        NEWS
 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 ?? ??? ????, PHP 8.2.23
 
+- Core:
+  . Fixed bug GH-15020 (Memory leak in Zend/Optimizer/escape_analysis.c).
+    (nielsdos)
+
 - Curl:
   . Fixed case when curl_error returns an empty string.
     (David Carlier)
diff --git a/Zend/Optimizer/escape_analysis.c b/Zend/Optimizer/escape_analysis.c
index b7c0a5ec446..4bb2b58af77 100644
--- a/Zend/Optimizer/escape_analysis.c
+++ b/Zend/Optimizer/escape_analysis.c
@@ -400,6 +400,7 @@ zend_result zend_ssa_escape_analysis(const zend_script *script, zend_op_array *o
 	}
 
 	if (zend_build_equi_escape_sets(ees, op_array, ssa) == FAILURE) {
+		free_alloca(ees, use_heap);
 		return FAILURE;
 	}