diff --git a/src/core/ngx_palloc.c b/src/core/ngx_palloc.c
index 2e72a0f3b..978fc30f0 100644
--- a/src/core/ngx_palloc.c
+++ b/src/core/ngx_palloc.c
@@ -163,6 +163,7 @@ ngx_palloc(ngx_pool_t *pool, size_t size)
 
     large = ngx_palloc(pool, sizeof(ngx_pool_large_t));
     if (large == NULL) {
+        ngx_free(p);
         return NULL;
     }