diff --git a/src/regex.c b/src/regex.c
index 296b91dd1..8f039157f 100644
--- a/src/regex.c
+++ b/src/regex.c
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ struct regex *regex_new(const char *pattern) {
         }
         ELOG("PCRE regular expression compilation failed at %d: %s\n",
              offset, error);
+        regex_free(re);
         return NULL;
     }
     re->extra = pcre_study(re->regex, 0, &error);