diff --git a/src/conf/virstorageobj.c b/src/conf/virstorageobj.c
index 49fe24b28c..19903b6c51 100644
--- a/src/conf/virstorageobj.c
+++ b/src/conf/virstorageobj.c
@@ -748,7 +748,7 @@ virStoragePoolObjAssignDef(virStoragePoolObjListPtr pools,
     }
 
     if (!(obj = virStoragePoolObjNew()))
-        return NULL;
+        goto error;
 
     virUUIDFormat(def->uuid, uuidstr);
     if (virHashAddEntry(pools->objs, uuidstr, obj) < 0)