diff --git a/dir.c b/dir.c
index 6b3273d1d1..3e345c2fc5 100644
--- a/dir.c
+++ b/dir.c
@@ -169,7 +169,10 @@ static int add_excludes_from_file_1(const char *fname,
 	}
 	buf = xmalloc(size+1);
 	if (read_in_full(fd, buf, size) != size)
+	{
+		free(buf);
 		goto err;
+	}
 	close(fd);
 
 	if (buf_p)