diff --git a/libraries/librewrite/subst.c b/libraries/librewrite/subst.c
index 8de7f78940..1ec0af7dc9 100644
--- a/libraries/librewrite/subst.c
+++ b/libraries/librewrite/subst.c
@@ -387,6 +387,7 @@ rewrite_subst_apply(
 
 		if ( rc != REWRITE_SUCCESS ) {
 			rc = REWRITE_REGEXEC_ERR;
+			goto cleanup;
 		}
 		
 		/*