diff --git a/src/switch_event.c b/src/switch_event.c
index 04f8f5d715..5bc27221d0 100644
--- a/src/switch_event.c
+++ b/src/switch_event.c
@@ -734,6 +734,7 @@ SWITCH_DECLARE(switch_status_t) switch_event_serialize(switch_event_t *event, ch
 
 	/* go ahead and give ourselves some space to work with, should save a few reallocs */
 	if (!(encode_buf = malloc(encode_len))) {
+		switch_safe_free(buf);
 		return SWITCH_STATUS_MEMERR;
 	}