diff --git a/src/rpc/virnettlscontext.c b/src/rpc/virnettlscontext.c
index e901b63ccf..e6123f9d7c 100644
--- a/src/rpc/virnettlscontext.c
+++ b/src/rpc/virnettlscontext.c
@@ -1050,6 +1050,7 @@ static int virNetTLSContextValidCertificate(virNetTLSContextPtr ctxt,
                 goto authdeny;
             }
         }
+        gnutls_x509_crt_deinit(cert);
     }
 
 #if 0