diff --git a/block/blkdebug.c b/block/blkdebug.c
index eecbf3e5c479729faa087e1746525faad4d3550d..54da719dd151c0b33d703ba0dadef4db9e116097 100644
--- a/block/blkdebug.c
+++ b/block/blkdebug.c
@@ -215,6 +215,7 @@ static int add_rule(void *opaque, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)
                                  BLKDEBUG_IO_TYPE__MAX, &local_error);
         if (local_error) {
             error_propagate(errp, local_error);
+            g_free(rule);
             return -1;
         }
         if (iotype != BLKDEBUG_IO_TYPE__MAX) {