diff --git a/tools/virt-host-validate-common.c b/tools/virt-host-validate-common.c
index 4d8ec38f88..9779eb7b3b 100644
--- a/tools/virt-host-validate-common.c
+++ b/tools/virt-host-validate-common.c
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ int virHostValidateCGroupControllers(const char *hvname,
                                      int controllers,
                                      virHostValidateLevel level)
 {
-    virCgroupPtr group = NULL;
+    g_autoptr(virCgroup) group = NULL;
     int ret = 0;
     size_t i;
 
@@ -315,8 +315,6 @@ int virHostValidateCGroupControllers(const char *hvname,
         }
     }
 
-    virCgroupFree(group);
-
     return ret;
 }
 #else /*  !__linux__ */