diff --git a/src/auth.cc b/src/auth.cc
index 77c6e47..59042b9 100644
--- a/src/auth.cc
+++ b/src/auth.cc
@@ -357,8 +357,7 @@ static AuthRealm_t *Auth_realm_by_name(const AuthHost_t *host,
    int i;
 
    for (i = 0; (realm = reinterpret_cast< AuthRealm_t * >( dList_nth_data(host->realms, i) )); i++)
-      if (strcmp(realm->name, name) == 0)
-         return realm;
+      if (realm->name == name) return realm;
 
    return NULL;
 }
@@ -394,17 +393,10 @@ static void Auth_realm_delete(AuthRealm_t *realm)
 {
    int i;
 
-   MSG("Auth_realm_delete: \"%s\"\n", realm->name);
+   MSG("Auth_realm_delete: \"%s\"\n", realm->name.value().c_str());
    for (i = dList_length(realm->paths) - 1; i >= 0; i--)
       dFree(dList_nth_data(realm->paths, i));
    dList_free(realm->paths);
-   dFree(realm->name);
-   dFree(realm->username);
-   dFree(realm->authorization);
-   dFree(realm->cnonce);
-   dFree(realm->nonce);
-   dFree(realm->opaque);
-   dFree(realm->domain);
    delete realm;
 }
 
@@ -458,7 +450,7 @@ char *a_Auth_get_auth_str(const DilloUrl *url, const char *request_uri)
    if ((host = Auth_host_by_url(url)) &&
        (realm = Auth_realm_by_path(host, URL_PATH(url)))) {
       if (realm->type == BASIC)
-         ret = dStrdup(realm->authorization);
+         ret = dStrdup(realm->authorization.value().c_str());
       else if (realm->type == DIGEST)
          ret = a_Digest_authorization_hdr(realm, url, request_uri);
       else
@@ -510,8 +502,7 @@ static int Auth_do_auth_required(const AuthParse_t *auth_parse,
 
       if (auth_parse->type == DIGEST && auth_parse->stale) {
          /* we do have valid credentials but our nonce is old */
-         dFree((void *)realm->nonce);
-         realm->nonce = dStrdup(auth_parse->nonce.value().c_str());
+         realm->nonce = auth_parse->nonce;
          return 0;
       }
    }
@@ -545,39 +536,33 @@ static void Auth_do_auth_dialog_cb(const char *user, const char *password,
    /* find or create the realm */
    if (!(realm = Auth_realm_by_name(host, data->auth_parse->realm.value().c_str()))) {
       realm = std::make_unique< AuthRealm_t >().release();
-      realm->name = dStrdup(data->auth_parse->realm.value().c_str());
+      realm->name = data->auth_parse->realm;
       realm->paths = dList_new(1);
       dList_append(host->realms, realm);
    }
    realm->type = data->auth_parse->type;
-   dFree(realm->authorization);
-   realm->authorization = NULL;
+   realm->authorization = std::nullopt;
 
    Auth_realm_add_path(realm, URL_PATH(data->url));
 
    if (realm->type == BASIC) {
       char *user_password = dStrconcat(user, ":", password, NULL);
       char *response = a_Misc_encode_base64(user_password);
-      char *authorization =
-         dStrconcat("Authorization: Basic ", response, "\r\n", NULL);
-      dFree(realm->authorization);
-      realm->authorization = authorization;
+      realm->authorization = "Authorization: Basic ";
+      realm->authorization.value()+= response;
+      realm->authorization.value()+= "\r\n";
       dFree(response);
       dStrshred(user_password);
       dFree(user_password);
    } else if (realm->type == DIGEST) {
-      dFree(realm->username);
-      realm->username = dStrdup(user);
+      realm->username = user;
       realm->nonce_count = 0;
-      dFree(realm->nonce);
-      realm->nonce = dStrdup(data->auth_parse->nonce.value().c_str());
-      dFree(realm->opaque);
-      realm->opaque = dStrdup(data->auth_parse->opaque.value().c_str());
+      realm->nonce = data->auth_parse->nonce;
+      realm->opaque = data->auth_parse->opaque;
       realm->algorithm = data->auth_parse->algorithm;
-      dFree(realm->domain);
-      realm->domain = dStrdup(data->auth_parse->domain.value().c_str());
+      realm->domain = data->auth_parse->domain;
       realm->qop = data->auth_parse->qop;
-      dFree(realm->cnonce);
+      realm->cnonce= std::nullopt;
       if (realm->qop != QOPNOTSET)
          realm->cnonce = a_Digest_create_cnonce();
       if (!a_Digest_compute_digest(realm, user, password)) {
diff --git a/src/auth.hh b/src/auth.hh
index 3f5647f..fac20dd 100644
--- a/src/auth.hh
+++ b/src/auth.hh
@@ -8,18 +8,18 @@ enum AuthParseDigestQOP_t { QOPNOTSET, AUTH, AUTHINT };
 
 struct AuthRealm_t{
    enum AuthParseHTTPAuthType_t type;
-   char *name;
+   std::optional< std::string > name;
    Dlist *paths; /* stripped of any trailing '/', so the root path is "" */
-   char *authorization; /* BASIC: the authorization request header */
+   std::optional< std::string > authorization; /* BASIC: the authorization request header */
                         /* DIGEST: the hexdigest of A1             */
    /* digest state ahead */
-   char *username;
-   char *cnonce;
+   std::optional< std::string > username;
+   std::optional< std::string > cnonce;
    unsigned int nonce_count;
-   char *nonce;
-   char *opaque;
+   std::optional< std::string > nonce;
+   std::optional< std::string > opaque;
    enum AuthParseDigestAlgorithm_t algorithm;
-   char *domain; /* NOT USED */
+   std::optional< std::string > domain; /* NOT USED */
    enum AuthParseDigestQOP_t qop;
 };
 
diff --git a/src/digest.cc b/src/digest.cc
index b39a8ee..5e116d0 100644
--- a/src/digest.cc
+++ b/src/digest.cc
@@ -180,12 +180,12 @@ char *a_Digest_authorization_hdr(AuthRealm_t *realm, const DilloUrl *url,
    if (!response)
       return NULL;
    result = dStr_new("Authorization: Digest ");
-   Digest_Dstr_append_token_value(result, 0, "username", realm->username, 1);
-   Digest_Dstr_append_token_value(result, 1, "realm", realm->name, 1);
-   Digest_Dstr_append_token_value(result, 1, "nonce", realm->nonce, 1);
+   Digest_Dstr_append_token_value(result, 0, "username", realm->username.value().c_str(), 1);
+   Digest_Dstr_append_token_value(result, 1, "realm", realm->name.value().c_str(), 1);
+   Digest_Dstr_append_token_value(result, 1, "nonce", realm->nonce.value().c_str(), 1);
    Digest_Dstr_append_token_value(result, 1, "uri", digest_uri, 1);
    if (realm->qop != QOPNOTSET) {
-      Digest_Dstr_append_token_value(result, 1, "cnonce", realm->cnonce, 1);
+      Digest_Dstr_append_token_value(result, 1, "cnonce", realm->cnonce.value().c_str(), 1);
       dStr_sprintfa(result, ", nc=%08x", realm->nonce_count);
    }
    if (realm->algorithm != ALGORITHMNOTSET) {
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ char *a_Digest_authorization_hdr(AuthRealm_t *realm, const DilloUrl *url,
    }
    Digest_Dstr_append_token_value(result, 1, "response", response->str, 1);
    if (realm->opaque)
-      Digest_Dstr_append_token_value(result, 1, "opaque", realm->opaque, 1);
+      Digest_Dstr_append_token_value(result, 1, "opaque", realm->opaque.value().c_str(), 1);
    if (realm->qop != QOPNOTSET)
       Digest_Dstr_append_token_value(result, 1, "qop", QOP2STR[realm->qop], 1);
    dStr_sprintfa(result, "\r\n");