diff --git a/lib/libpfctl/libpfctl.c b/lib/libpfctl/libpfctl.c
index 0360c0c63be7..22b0471e2912 100644
--- a/lib/libpfctl/libpfctl.c
+++ b/lib/libpfctl/libpfctl.c
@@ -79,7 +79,6 @@ pfctl_do_ioctl(int dev, uint cmd, size_t size, nvlist_t **nvl)
 retry:
 	nv.data = malloc(size);
 	memcpy(nv.data, data, nvlen);
-	free(data);
 
 	nv.len = nvlen;
 	nv.size = size;
@@ -97,13 +96,15 @@ pfctl_do_ioctl(int dev, uint cmd, size_t size, nvlist_t **nvl)
 	if (ret == 0) {
 		*nvl = nvlist_unpack(nv.data, nv.len, 0);
 		if (*nvl == NULL) {
-			free(nv.data);
-			return (EIO);
+			ret = EIO;
+			goto out;
 		}
 	} else {
 		ret = errno;
 	}
 
+out:
+	free(data);
 	free(nv.data);
 
 	return (ret);