diff --git a/src/remote/remote_driver.c b/src/remote/remote_driver.c
index ec26ebe2c6..aca00c0974 100644
--- a/src/remote/remote_driver.c
+++ b/src/remote/remote_driver.c
@@ -546,10 +546,6 @@ remoteClientCloseFunc(virNetClientPtr client ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
         cbdata->freeCallback = NULL;
     }
     virObjectUnlock(cbdata);
-
-    /* free the connection reference that comes along with the callback
-     * registration */
-    virObjectUnref(cbdata->conn);
 }
 
 /* helper macro to ease extraction of arguments from the URI */