diff --git a/lib/checkunusedvar.cpp b/lib/checkunusedvar.cpp
index e03c7fbb2..07552bd15 100644
--- a/lib/checkunusedvar.cpp
+++ b/lib/checkunusedvar.cpp
@@ -928,8 +928,11 @@ void CheckUnusedVar::checkFunctionVariableUsage_iterateScopes(const Scope* const
             }
 
             const Variables::VariableUsage *const var = variables.find(varid);
-            if (var && !var->_allocateMemory) {
-                variables.readAll(varid, tok);
+            if (var) {
+                if (!var->_aliases.empty())
+                    variables.use(varid, tok);
+                else if (!var->_allocateMemory)
+                    variables.readAll(varid, tok);
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/test/testunusedvar.cpp b/test/testunusedvar.cpp
index e6a9597bc..9f145ca50 100644
--- a/test/testunusedvar.cpp
+++ b/test/testunusedvar.cpp
@@ -171,6 +171,7 @@ private:
         TEST_CASE(localvarTemplate); // #4955 - variable is used as template parameter
         TEST_CASE(localvarFuncPtr); // #7194
         TEST_CASE(localvarAddr); // #7477
+        TEST_CASE(localvarDelete);
 
         TEST_CASE(localvarCppInitialization);
         TEST_CASE(localvarCpp11Initialization);
@@ -4104,6 +4105,20 @@ private:
         ASSERT_EQUALS("", errout.str());
     }
 
+    void localvarDelete() { // #8339
+        functionVariableUsage("void reassign(char*& data, int size)"
+                              "{"
+                              "    char* buf = new char[size];"
+                              ""
+                              "    char* tmp = data;"
+                              "    data = buf;"
+                              "    buf = tmp;"
+                              ""
+                              "    delete [] buf;"
+                              "}");
+        ASSERT_EQUALS("", errout.str());
+    }
+
     void chainedAssignment() {
         // #5466
         functionVariableUsage("void NotUsed(double* pdD, int n) {\n"