diff --git a/lib/ftp.c b/lib/ftp.c
index 65dfa8362b..5016a6a802 100644
--- a/lib/ftp.c
+++ b/lib/ftp.c
@@ -779,8 +779,10 @@ CURLcode Curl_ftp_done(struct connectdata *conn, CURLcode status)
   dlen = strlen(path)-flen;
   if(dlen) {
     ftp->prevpath = malloc(dlen + 1);
-    if(!ftp->prevpath)
+    if(!ftp->prevpath) {
+      free(path);
       return CURLE_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
+    }
     memcpy(ftp->prevpath, path, dlen);
     ftp->prevpath[dlen]=0; /* terminate */
     infof(data, "Remembering we are in dir %s\n", ftp->prevpath);