diff --git a/servers/slapd/schema_init.c b/servers/slapd/schema_init.c
index 24c9933eb5..85c62249df 100644
--- a/servers/slapd/schema_init.c
+++ b/servers/slapd/schema_init.c
@@ -2814,6 +2814,7 @@ UUIDNormalize(
 
 		} else {
 			slap_sl_free( normalized->bv_val, ctx );
+			BER_BVZERO( normalized );
 			return LDAP_INVALID_SYNTAX;
 		}