diff --git a/src/core/main.c b/src/core/main.c
index ccbab04d27..18ba2b063c 100644
--- a/src/core/main.c
+++ b/src/core/main.c
@@ -2377,8 +2377,8 @@ static void reset_arguments(void) {
         arg_reboot_watchdog = 10 * USEC_PER_MINUTE;
         arg_kexec_watchdog = 0;
         arg_pretimeout_watchdog = 0;
-        arg_early_core_pattern = NULL;
-        arg_watchdog_device = NULL;
+        arg_early_core_pattern = mfree(arg_early_core_pattern);
+        arg_watchdog_device = mfree(arg_watchdog_device);
         arg_watchdog_pretimeout_governor = mfree(arg_watchdog_pretimeout_governor);
 
         arg_default_environment = strv_free(arg_default_environment);