diff --git a/lib/libzfs/libzfs_import.c b/lib/libzfs/libzfs_import.c
index b5a079c0eb14..8afe77af398b 100644
--- a/lib/libzfs/libzfs_import.c
+++ b/lib/libzfs/libzfs_import.c
@@ -922,8 +922,10 @@ zpool_clear_label(int fd)
 
 	for (l = 0; l < VDEV_LABELS; l++) {
 		if (pwrite64(fd, label, sizeof (vdev_label_t),
-		    label_offset(size, l)) != sizeof (vdev_label_t))
+		    label_offset(size, l)) != sizeof (vdev_label_t)) {
+			free(label);
 			return (-1);
+		}
 	}
 
 	free(label);