diff --git a/servers/lloadd/upstream.c b/servers/lloadd/upstream.c
index 9d24e61d98..bd8ca8395d 100644
--- a/servers/lloadd/upstream.c
+++ b/servers/lloadd/upstream.c
@@ -340,6 +340,8 @@ handle_one_response( Connection *c )
     } else if ( !( op = tavl_find(
                            c->c_ops, &needle, operation_upstream_cmp ) ) ) {
         /* Already abandoned, do nothing */
+        ber_free( ber, 1 );
+        return rc;
         /*
     } else if ( op->o_response_pending ) {
         c->c_pendingop = op;