diff --git a/src/libnsdb/nsdb.c b/src/libnsdb/nsdb.c
index cab81b7..2ec13e2 100644
--- a/src/libnsdb/nsdb.c
+++ b/src/libnsdb/nsdb.c
@@ -494,6 +494,7 @@ nsdb_read_certfile(const char *pathname, char **certdata,
 	if (fd == -1) {
 		xlog(D_GENERAL, "%s: Failed to open %s: %m",
 			__func__, pathname);
+		free(buf);
 		goto out;
 	}