diff --git a/src/basic/cgroup-util.c b/src/basic/cgroup-util.c
index ae8f2d1160..7e4670ea8c 100644
--- a/src/basic/cgroup-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/cgroup-util.c
@@ -2092,8 +2092,7 @@ int cg_get_keyed_attribute(const char *controller, const char *path, const char
         for (i = 0; keys[i]; i++) {
                 if (!values[i]) {
                         for (i = 0; keys[i]; i++) {
-                                free(values[i]);
-                                values[i] = NULL;
+                                values[i] = mfree(values[i]);
                         }
                         return -ENOENT;
                 }