diff --git a/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c b/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c
index 5fb4cbf04a..586a924cca 100644
--- a/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c
+++ b/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c
@@ -2852,8 +2852,11 @@ static void item_free_contents(Item *i) {
         strv_free(i->xattrs);
 
 #if HAVE_ACL
-        acl_free(i->acl_access);
-        acl_free(i->acl_default);
+        if (i->acl_access)
+                acl_free(i->acl_access);
+
+        if (i->acl_default)
+                acl_free(i->acl_default);
 #endif
 }