diff --git a/src/network/networkd-network.c b/src/network/networkd-network.c
index eb13e9e93d..c8f7c4f98a 100644
--- a/src/network/networkd-network.c
+++ b/src/network/networkd-network.c
@@ -1013,7 +1013,8 @@ int config_parse_timezone(
                 void *data,
                 void *userdata) {
 
-        char **datap = data, *tz = NULL;
+        _cleanup_free_ char *tz = NULL;
+        char **datap = data;
         int r;
 
         assert(filename);
@@ -1026,14 +1027,10 @@ int config_parse_timezone(
 
         if (!timezone_is_valid(tz, LOG_ERR)) {
                 log_syntax(unit, LOG_ERR, filename, line, 0, "Timezone is not valid, ignoring assignment: %s", rvalue);
-                free(tz);
                 return 0;
         }
 
-        free(*datap);
-        *datap = tz;
-
-        return 0;
+        return free_and_replace(*datap, tz);
 }
 
 int config_parse_dhcp_server_dns(