diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index aa2888d301..146856567a 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -1690,8 +1690,10 @@ static int git_default_core_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 	if (!strcmp(var, "core.askpass"))
 		return git_config_string(&askpass_program, var, value);
 
-	if (!strcmp(var, "core.excludesfile"))
+	if (!strcmp(var, "core.excludesfile")) {
+		free((char *)excludes_file);
 		return git_config_pathname(&excludes_file, var, value);
+	}
 
 	if (!strcmp(var, "core.whitespace")) {
 		if (!value)
diff --git a/t/t7300-clean.sh b/t/t7300-clean.sh
index c975eb54d2..529fc53339 100755
--- a/t/t7300-clean.sh
+++ b/t/t7300-clean.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 test_description='git clean basic tests'
 
+TEST_PASSES_SANITIZE_LEAK=true
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
 git config clean.requireForce no