diff --git a/Sources/Foundation/NSConcreteValue.swift b/Sources/Foundation/NSConcreteValue.swift
index c28f5b2547..9b121f8000 100644
--- a/Sources/Foundation/NSConcreteValue.swift
+++ b/Sources/Foundation/NSConcreteValue.swift
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ internal class NSConcreteValue : NSValue, @unchecked Sendable {
         value.copyMemory(from: self._storage, byteCount: self._size)
     }
     
+    @available(*, deprecated, message: "On platforms without Objective-C autorelease pools, use withCString instead")
     override var objCType : UnsafePointer<Int8> {
         return NSString(self._typeInfo.name).utf8String! // XXX leaky
     }
diff --git a/Sources/Foundation/NSSpecialValue.swift b/Sources/Foundation/NSSpecialValue.swift
index 3f95cc47eb..055fabdc9d 100644
--- a/Sources/Foundation/NSSpecialValue.swift
+++ b/Sources/Foundation/NSSpecialValue.swift
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ internal class NSSpecialValue : NSValue, @unchecked Sendable {
         _value.encodeWithCoder(aCoder)
     }
     
+    @available(*, deprecated, message: "On platforms without Objective-C autorelease pools, use withCString instead")
     override var objCType : UnsafePointer<Int8> {
         let typeName = NSSpecialValue._objCTypeFromType(type(of: _value))
         return typeName!._bridgeToObjectiveC().utf8String! // leaky
diff --git a/Sources/Foundation/NSString.swift b/Sources/Foundation/NSString.swift
index 79ec002d5b..88379a9351 100644
--- a/Sources/Foundation/NSString.swift
+++ b/Sources/Foundation/NSString.swift
@@ -160,32 +160,19 @@ internal func _createRegexForPattern(_ pattern: String, _ options: NSRegularExpr
     return regex
 }
 
-internal func _bytesInEncoding(_ str: NSString, _ encoding: String.Encoding, _ fatalOnError: Bool, _ externalRep: Bool, _ lossy: Bool) -> UnsafePointer<Int8>? {
-    let theRange = NSRange(location: 0, length: str.length)
+// Caller must free, or leak, the pointer
+fileprivate func _allocateBytesInEncoding(_ str: NSString, _ encoding: String.Encoding) -> UnsafeMutableBufferPointer<Int8>? {
+    let theRange: NSRange = NSRange(location: 0, length: str.length)
     var cLength = 0
-    var used = 0
-    var options: NSString.EncodingConversionOptions = []
-    if externalRep {
-        options.formUnion(.externalRepresentation)
-    }
-    if lossy {
-        options.formUnion(.allowLossy)
-    }
-    if !str.getBytes(nil, maxLength: Int.max - 1, usedLength: &cLength, encoding: encoding.rawValue, options: options, range: theRange, remaining: nil) {
-        if fatalOnError {
-            fatalError("Conversion on encoding failed")
-        }
+    if !str.getBytes(nil, maxLength: Int.max - 1, usedLength: &cLength, encoding: encoding.rawValue, options: [], range: theRange, remaining: nil) {
         return nil
     }
     
-    let buffer = malloc(cLength + 1)!.bindMemory(to: Int8.self, capacity: cLength + 1)
-    if !str.getBytes(buffer, maxLength: cLength, usedLength: &used, encoding: encoding.rawValue, options: options, range: theRange, remaining: nil) {
-        fatalError("Internal inconsistency; previously claimed getBytes returned success but failed with similar invocation")
-    }
+    let buffer = UnsafeMutableBufferPointer<Int8>.allocate(capacity: cLength + 1)
+    buffer.initialize(repeating: 0)
+    _ = str.getBytes(buffer.baseAddress, maxLength: cLength, usedLength: nil, encoding: encoding.rawValue, options: [], range: theRange, remaining: nil)    
     
-    buffer.advanced(by: cLength).initialize(to: 0)
-    
-    return UnsafePointer(buffer) // leaked and should be autoreleased via a NSData backing but we cannot here
+    return buffer
 }
 
 internal func isALineSeparatorTypeCharacter(_ ch: unichar) -> Bool {
@@ -903,8 +890,13 @@ extension NSString {
         }
     }
     
+    @available(*, deprecated, message: "On platforms without Objective-C autorelease pools, use withCString instead")
     public var utf8String: UnsafePointer<Int8>? {
-        return _bytesInEncoding(self, .utf8, false, false, false)
+        guard let buffer = _allocateBytesInEncoding(self, .utf8) else {
+            return nil
+        }
+        // leaked. On Darwin, freed via an autorelease
+        return UnsafePointer<Int8>(buffer.baseAddress)
     }
     
     public var fastestEncoding: UInt {
@@ -961,8 +953,24 @@ extension NSString {
                                           0, nil, 0, nil) == length
     }
    
-    public func cString(using encoding: UInt) -> UnsafePointer<Int8>? { 
-        return _bytesInEncoding(self, String.Encoding(rawValue: encoding), false, false, false)
+    @available(*, deprecated, message: "On platforms without Objective-C autorelease pools, use withCString(encodedAs:_) instead")
+    public func cString(using encoding: UInt) -> UnsafePointer<Int8>? {
+        // leaked. On Darwin, freed via an autorelease
+        guard let buffer = _allocateBytesInEncoding(self,  String.Encoding(rawValue: encoding)) else {
+            return nil
+        }
+        // leaked. On Darwin, freed via an autorelease
+        return UnsafePointer<Int8>(buffer.baseAddress)
+    }
+
+    internal func _withCString<T>(using encoding: UInt, closure: (UnsafePointer<Int8>?) -> T) -> T {
+        let buffer = _allocateBytesInEncoding(self, String.Encoding(rawValue: encoding))
+        let result = closure(buffer?.baseAddress)
+        if let buffer {
+            buffer.deinitialize()
+            buffer.deallocate()
+        }
+        return result
     }
     
     public func getCString(_ buffer: UnsafeMutablePointer<Int8>, maxLength maxBufferCount: Int, encoding: UInt) -> Bool {
diff --git a/Sources/Foundation/NSStringAPI.swift b/Sources/Foundation/NSStringAPI.swift
index 26e99c48e8..d725d944e6 100644
--- a/Sources/Foundation/NSStringAPI.swift
+++ b/Sources/Foundation/NSStringAPI.swift
@@ -633,9 +633,8 @@ extension StringProtocol {
     /// Returns a representation of the string as a C string
     /// using a given encoding.
     public func cString(using encoding: String.Encoding) -> [CChar]? {
-        return withExtendedLifetime(_ns) {
-            (s: NSString) -> [CChar]? in
-            _persistCString(s.cString(using: encoding.rawValue))
+        return _ns._withCString(using: encoding.rawValue) {
+            _persistCString($0)
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/Tests/Foundation/TestNSString.swift b/Tests/Foundation/TestNSString.swift
index b3e24278a3..73d80bd119 100644
--- a/Tests/Foundation/TestNSString.swift
+++ b/Tests/Foundation/TestNSString.swift
@@ -316,6 +316,12 @@ class TestNSString: LoopbackServerTest {
         XCTAssertNil(string)
     }
 
+    func test_cStringArray() {
+        let str = "abc"
+        let encoded = str.cString(using: .ascii)
+        XCTAssertEqual(encoded, [97, 98, 99, 0])
+    }
+
     func test_FromContentsOfURL() throws {
         throw XCTSkip("Test is flaky in CI: https://bugs.swift.org/browse/SR-10514")
         #if false