A system and method are provided to inspect memory leaks. In one embodiment, a method of inspecting memory leaks is disclosed. The method includes garbage collecting at a virtual machine to generate a garbage collection file having memory leak information identifying dirty objects of an application causing first memory leaks and providing a state of the dirty objects as they existed prior to causing the first memory leaks. The garbage collection file is periodically duplicated into a backup file to the garbage collection file, and, during runtime, the backup file having the memory leak information is analyzed including reviewing the state of the dirty objects as they existed prior to causing the first memory leaks to identify clean objects capable of turning dirty and causing second memory leaks.