diff --git a/lib/mcconfig/common.c b/lib/mcconfig/common.c
index 012a24e7f..dd0cb4ecb 100644
--- a/lib/mcconfig/common.c
+++ b/lib/mcconfig/common.c
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ mc_config_new_or_override_file (mc_config_t * mc_config, const gchar * ini_path,
     fd = mc_open (ini_path, O_WRONLY | O_TRUNC | O_SYNC, 0);
     if (fd == -1) {
         g_propagate_error (error, g_error_new (mc_main_error_quark() ,0, "%s", unix_error_string (errno)));
+        g_free(data);
         return FALSE;
     }