diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
index 53980d4d78..0ad6359102 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_driver.c
@@ -3356,7 +3356,7 @@ qemuDomainSaveInternal(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
      * is NULL or whether it was the live xml of the domain moments
      * before.  */
     if (xmlin) {
-        virDomainDefPtr def = NULL;
+        g_autoptr(virDomainDef) def = NULL;
 
         if (!(def = virDomainDefParseString(xmlin, driver->xmlopt,
                                             priv->qemuCaps,
@@ -3364,10 +3364,8 @@ qemuDomainSaveInternal(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
                                             VIR_DOMAIN_DEF_PARSE_SKIP_VALIDATE))) {
             goto endjob;
         }
-        if (!qemuDomainCheckABIStability(driver, vm, def)) {
-            virDomainDefFree(def);
+        if (!qemuDomainCheckABIStability(driver, vm, def))
             goto endjob;
-        }
         xml = qemuDomainDefFormatLive(driver, priv->qemuCaps, def, NULL, true, true);
     } else {
         xml = qemuDomainDefFormatLive(driver, priv->qemuCaps, vm->def,