diff --git a/refs/files-backend.c b/refs/files-backend.c
index b1f8f53a09..d60767ab73 100644
--- a/refs/files-backend.c
+++ b/refs/files-backend.c
@@ -2151,8 +2151,10 @@ static struct ref_iterator *reflog_iterator_begin(struct ref_store *ref_store,
 	strbuf_addf(&sb, "%s/logs", gitdir);
 
 	diter = dir_iterator_begin(sb.buf, 0);
-	if(!diter)
+	if (!diter) {
+		strbuf_release(&sb);
 		return empty_ref_iterator_begin();
+	}
 
 	iter = xcalloc(1, sizeof(*iter));
 	ref_iterator = &iter->base;
diff --git a/t/helper/test-dir-iterator.c b/t/helper/test-dir-iterator.c
index c7c30664da..659b6bfa81 100644
--- a/t/helper/test-dir-iterator.c
+++ b/t/helper/test-dir-iterator.c
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ static const char *error_name(int error_number)
  */
 int cmd__dir_iterator(int argc, const char **argv)
 {
-	struct strbuf path = STRBUF_INIT;
 	struct dir_iterator *diter;
 	unsigned int flags = 0;
 	int iter_status;
@@ -36,8 +35,7 @@ int cmd__dir_iterator(int argc, const char **argv)
 	if (!*argv || argc != 1)
 		die("dir-iterator needs exactly one non-option argument");
 
-	strbuf_add(&path, *argv, strlen(*argv));
-	diter = dir_iterator_begin(path.buf, flags);
+	diter = dir_iterator_begin(*argv, flags);
 
 	if (!diter) {
 		printf("dir_iterator_begin failure: %s\n", error_name(errno));