diff --git a/ft/ft-serialize.cc b/ft/ft-serialize.cc
index bdae581321e..3b694706bfb 100644
--- a/ft/ft-serialize.cc
+++ b/ft/ft-serialize.cc
@@ -465,6 +465,7 @@ int deserialize_ft_from_fd_into_rbuf(int fd,
         } else {
             r = EINVAL;
         }
+        toku_free(prefix);
         goto exit;
     }