diff --git a/doc/Changelog b/doc/Changelog
index e15c01189..950390980 100644
--- a/doc/Changelog
+++ b/doc/Changelog
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 20 April 2018: Wouter
 	- man page documentation for dns-over-tls forward-addr '#' notation.
+	- removed free from failed parse case.
 
 19 April 2018: Wouter
 	- Can set tls authentication with forward-addr: IP#tls.auth.name
diff --git a/util/net_help.c b/util/net_help.c
index d8250f936..40bfefb64 100644
--- a/util/net_help.c
+++ b/util/net_help.c
@@ -260,7 +260,6 @@ int netblockstrtoaddr(const char* str, int port, struct sockaddr_storage* addr,
 		s = buf;
 	}
 	if(!ipstrtoaddr(s?s:str, port, addr, addrlen)) {
-		free(s);
 		log_err("cannot parse ip address: '%s'", str);
 		return 0;
 	}