diff --git a/servers/slapd/config.c b/servers/slapd/config.c
index f0cabce8df..2b8e429df1 100644
--- a/servers/slapd/config.c
+++ b/servers/slapd/config.c
@@ -731,6 +731,7 @@ read_config_file(const char *fname, int depth, ConfigArgs *cf, ConfigTable *cft)
 		Debug(LDAP_DEBUG_ANY,
 		    "could not stat config file \"%s\": %s (%d)\n",
 		    fname, strerror(errno), errno);
+		ch_free( c->argv );
 		ch_free( c );
 		return(1);
 	}
@@ -740,6 +741,7 @@ read_config_file(const char *fname, int depth, ConfigArgs *cf, ConfigTable *cft)
 		Debug(LDAP_DEBUG_ANY,
 		    "regular file expected, got \"%s\"\n",
 		    fname, 0, 0 );
+		ch_free( c->argv );
 		ch_free( c );
 		return(1);
 	}
@@ -750,6 +752,7 @@ read_config_file(const char *fname, int depth, ConfigArgs *cf, ConfigTable *cft)
 		Debug(LDAP_DEBUG_ANY,
 		    "could not open config file \"%s\": %s (%d)\n",
 		    fname, strerror(errno), errno);
+		ch_free( c->argv );
 		ch_free( c );
 		return(1);
 	}