diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 4b64511d923..1e43c0e9763 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ PHP                                                                        NEWS
 
 - PCRE:
   . Fixed bug #73483 (Segmentation fault on pcre_replace_callback). (Laruence)
+  . Fixed bug #73612 (preg_*() may leak memory). (cmb)
 
 - Postgres:
   . Fixed bug #73498 (Incorrect SQL generated for pg_copy_to()). (Craig Duncan)
diff --git a/ext/pcre/php_pcre.c b/ext/pcre/php_pcre.c
index c882a092385..6bcaf17d687 100644
--- a/ext/pcre/php_pcre.c
+++ b/ext/pcre/php_pcre.c
@@ -726,7 +726,7 @@ PHPAPI void php_pcre_match_impl(pcre_cache_entry *pce, char *subject, int subjec
 
 	/* Overwrite the passed-in value for subpatterns with an empty array. */
 	if (subpats != NULL) {
-		zval_dtor(subpats);
+		zval_ptr_dtor(subpats);
 		array_init(subpats);
 	}
 
@@ -1592,7 +1592,7 @@ static PHP_FUNCTION(preg_replace)
 
 	replace_count = preg_replace_impl(return_value, regex, replace, subject, limit, 0, 0);
 	if (zcount) {
-		zval_dtor(zcount);
+		zval_ptr_dtor(zcount);
 		ZVAL_LONG(zcount, replace_count);
 	}
 }
@@ -1627,7 +1627,7 @@ static PHP_FUNCTION(preg_replace_callback)
 
 	replace_count = preg_replace_impl(return_value, regex, replace, subject, limit, 1, 0);
 	if (zcount) {
-		zval_dtor(zcount);
+		zval_ptr_dtor(zcount);
 		ZVAL_LONG(zcount, replace_count);
 	}
 }
@@ -1689,7 +1689,7 @@ static PHP_FUNCTION(preg_replace_callback_array)
 	} ZEND_HASH_FOREACH_END();
 
 	if (zcount) {
-		zval_dtor(zcount);
+		zval_ptr_dtor(zcount);
 		ZVAL_LONG(zcount, replace_count);
 	}
 }
@@ -1720,7 +1720,7 @@ static PHP_FUNCTION(preg_filter)
 
 	replace_count = preg_replace_impl(return_value, regex, replace, subject, limit, 0, 1);
 	if (zcount) {
-		zval_dtor(zcount);
+		zval_ptr_dtor(zcount);
 		ZVAL_LONG(zcount, replace_count);
 	}
 }
diff --git a/ext/pcre/tests/bug73612.phpt b/ext/pcre/tests/bug73612.phpt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..707e10bce68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ext/pcre/tests/bug73612.phpt
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+--TEST--
+Bug #73612 (preg_*() may leak memory)
+--FILE--
+<?php
+$obj = new stdClass;
+$obj->obj = $obj;
+preg_match('/./', 'x', $obj);
+
+$obj = new stdClass;
+$obj->obj = $obj;
+preg_replace('/./', '', 'x', -1, $obj);
+
+$obj = new stdClass;
+$obj->obj = $obj;
+preg_replace_callback('/./', 'count', 'x', -1, $obj);
+
+$obj = new stdClass;
+$obj->obj = $obj;
+preg_replace_callback_array(['/./' => 'count'], 'x', -1, $obj);
+
+$obj = new stdClass;
+$obj->obj = $obj;
+preg_filter('/./', '', 'x', -1, $obj);
+?>
+===DONE===
+--EXPECT--
+===DONE===