diff --git a/lib/tokenize.cpp b/lib/tokenize.cpp
index 042199194..6827abae9 100644
--- a/lib/tokenize.cpp
+++ b/lib/tokenize.cpp
@@ -6413,6 +6413,7 @@ bool Tokenizer::simplifyKnownVariablesGetData(unsigned int varid, Token **_tok2,
 bool Tokenizer::simplifyKnownVariablesSimplify(Token **tok2, Token *tok3, unsigned int varid, const std::string &structname, std::string &value, unsigned int valueVarId, bool valueIsPointer, const Token * const valueToken, int indentlevel) const
 {
     const bool pointeralias(valueToken->isName() || Token::Match(valueToken, "& %name% ["));
+    const bool varIsGlobal = (indentlevel == 0);
     const bool printDebug = _settings->debugwarnings;
 
     if (_errorLogger && !list.getFiles().empty())
@@ -6491,12 +6492,9 @@ bool Tokenizer::simplifyKnownVariablesSimplify(Token **tok2, Token *tok3, unsign
         if (pointeralias && Token::Match(tok3, "do|for|while"))
             break;
 
-        // Stop if unknown function call is seen
-        // If the variable is a global or a member variable it might be
+        // Stop if unknown function call is seen and the variable is global: it might be
         // changed by the function call
-        // TODO: don't bail out if the variable is a local variable,
-        //       then it can't be changed by the function call.
-        if (tok3->str() == ")" && tok3->link() &&
+        if (varIsGlobal && tok3->str() == ")" && tok3->link() &&
             Token::Match(tok3->link()->tokAt(-2), "[;{}] %name% (") &&
             !Token::Match(tok3->link()->previous(), "if|for|while|switch|BOOST_FOREACH"))
             break;
diff --git a/test/testmemleak.cpp b/test/testmemleak.cpp
index c011ac67c..bb8c07104 100644
--- a/test/testmemleak.cpp
+++ b/test/testmemleak.cpp
@@ -369,6 +369,7 @@ private:
         TEST_CASE(trac3991);
         TEST_CASE(crash);
         TEST_CASE(trac7680);
+        TEST_CASE(trac7440);
     }
 
     std::string getcode(const char code[], const char varname[], bool classfunc=false) {
@@ -4032,6 +4033,16 @@ private:
               "}");
         ASSERT_EQUALS("", errout.str());
     }
+
+    void trac7440() {
+        check("int main(void) {\n"
+              "  char* data = new char[100];\n"
+              "  char** dataPtr = &data;\n"
+              "  printf(\"test\");\n"
+              "  delete [] *dataPtr;\n"
+              "}");
+        ASSERT_EQUALS("", errout.str());
+    }
 };
 
 REGISTER_TEST(TestMemleakInFunction)
diff --git a/test/testtokenize.cpp b/test/testtokenize.cpp
index b2eadcf7c..fc3df9a40 100644
--- a/test/testtokenize.cpp
+++ b/test/testtokenize.cpp
@@ -193,6 +193,7 @@ private:
         TEST_CASE(simplifyKnownVariablesClassMember);  // #2815 - value of class member may be changed by function call
         TEST_CASE(simplifyKnownVariablesFunctionCalls); // Function calls (don't assume pass by reference)
         TEST_CASE(simplifyKnownVariablesReturn);   // 3500 - return
+        TEST_CASE(simplifyKnownVariablesPointerAliasFunctionCall); // #7440
         TEST_CASE(simplifyExternC);
         TEST_CASE(simplifyKeyword); // #5842 - remove C99 static keyword between []
 
@@ -2879,6 +2880,22 @@ private:
         ASSERT_EQUALS("int a ( ) { return 123 ; }", tokenizeAndStringify(code,true));
     }
 
+    void simplifyKnownVariablesPointerAliasFunctionCall() { // #7440
+        const char code[] = "int main() {\n"
+                            "  char* data = new char[100];\n"
+                            "  char** dataPtr = &data;\n"
+                            "  printf(\"test\");\n"
+                            "  delete [] *dataPtr;\n"
+                            "}";
+        const char exp[]  = "int main ( ) {\n"
+                              "char * data ; data = new char [ 100 ] ;\n"
+                              "char * * dataPtr ; dataPtr = & data ;\n"
+                              "printf ( \"test\" ) ;\n"
+                              "delete [ ] data ;\n"
+                            "}";
+        ASSERT_EQUALS(exp, tokenizeAndStringify(code, /*simplify=*/true));
+    }
+
     void simplifyKnownVariablesClassMember() {
         // Ticket #2815
         {