diff --git a/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.c b/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.c
index 8729f9c164..57e5593d6f 100644
--- a/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/nwfilter_conf.c
@@ -379,6 +379,7 @@ virNWFilterRuleDefAddVar(virNWFilterRuleDefPtr nwf,
 
     if (VIR_EXPAND_N(nwf->varAccess, nwf->nVarAccess, 1) < 0) {
         virReportOOMError();
+        virNWFilterVarAccessFree(varAccess);
         return -1;
     }