Memory Leak and ESP32 destroy() Error about dictionary HOT 5 CLOSED

Please send source code. I suspect you don't destroy the actual dictionary object.
Where is delete new_cache?

from dictionary.

Source code is in dictionary_memleak.txt (github doesn't let you attach .ino files).

new_cache simply becomes cache after being loaded on each iteration through the rebuild.

from dictionary.

1. As I suspected you never destroy the actual Dictionary object - you created a memory leak by creating a new Dictionary and never deleting the old one. This is a classic "dropping pointers" scenario. C++ is not a managed language, you have to manage your objects.
2. 8192 objects maybe too much for esp32 heap without PSRAM - start with a few hundred and experiment.

void loop()
{
    times_rebuilt++;

    Serial.print( times_rebuilt );
    Serial.println( " attempt" );
    log_mem( "    Heap before rebuild: " );
   new_cache = NULL;
    Dictionary *new_cache = new Dictionary( dict_size );
// where is error handling?
   if ( new_cache  ) {
    log_mem( "    Heap after allocation: " );
    
    new_cache->jload( JSON );
    log_mem( "    Heap after JSON parse: " );

    // Fatal error on ESP32
    //cache->destroy();

    //cache = new_cache;  this does nothing in C++
   delete new_cache;
   }
   else {
     // there was a memory allocation error
   }
    log_mem( "    Heap after replacing cache: " );
}

By the way, the dictionary was never meant to operate with boolean values. It clearly states that the only supported type is String.

from dictionary.

Also, did you check the return value of new_cache->jload( JSON );? It must have returned an error.

from dictionary.

cache->destroy();
cache is undefined (NULL) on the first iteration, that caused the panic

from dictionary.