diff --git a/libgnucash/backend/xml/gnc-xml-backend.cpp b/libgnucash/backend/xml/gnc-xml-backend.cpp
index cc0b494f4e..236afa80b4 100644
--- a/libgnucash/backend/xml/gnc-xml-backend.cpp
+++ b/libgnucash/backend/xml/gnc-xml-backend.cpp
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ GncXmlBackend::check_path (const char* fullpath, bool create)
         g_free(dirname);
         return false;
     }
+    g_free(dirname);
     return true;
 }