diff --git a/builtin/merge-base.c b/builtin/merge-base.c
index 26b84980db..a11f8c6e4b 100644
--- a/builtin/merge-base.c
+++ b/builtin/merge-base.c
@@ -138,6 +138,7 @@ int cmd_merge_base(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	int rev_nr = 0;
 	int show_all = 0;
 	int cmdmode = 0;
+	int ret;
 
 	struct option options[] = {
 		OPT_BOOL('a', "all", &show_all, N_("output all common ancestors")),
@@ -186,5 +187,7 @@ int cmd_merge_base(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	ALLOC_ARRAY(rev, argc);
 	while (argc-- > 0)
 		rev[rev_nr++] = get_commit_reference(*argv++);
-	return show_merge_base(rev, rev_nr, show_all);
+	ret = show_merge_base(rev, rev_nr, show_all);
+	free(rev);
+	return ret;
 }