diff --git a/src/util/disk_cache_os.c b/src/util/disk_cache_os.c
index 1ab370fdec3..e93e8c65f3a 100644
--- a/src/util/disk_cache_os.c
+++ b/src/util/disk_cache_os.c
@@ -242,6 +242,7 @@ choose_lru_file_matching(const char *dir_path,
 
    if (list_is_empty(lru_file_list)) {
       closedir(dir);
+      free(lru_file_list);
       return NULL;
    }