diff --git a/src/libsystemd/sd-bus/bus-control.c b/src/libsystemd/sd-bus/bus-control.c
index 287cde6d41..77b4b5bea6 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/sd-bus/bus-control.c
+++ b/src/libsystemd/sd-bus/bus-control.c
@@ -590,10 +590,9 @@ _public_ int sd_bus_get_name_creds(
                                                 if (r < 0)
                                                         return r;
 
-                                                free(c->label);
-                                                c->label = strndup(p, sz);
-                                                if (!c->label)
-                                                        return -ENOMEM;
+                                                r = free_and_strndup(&c->label, p, sz);
+                                                if (r < 0)
+                                                        return r;
 
                                                 c->mask |= SD_BUS_CREDS_SELINUX_CONTEXT;
 
diff --git a/src/libsystemd/sd-login/sd-login.c b/src/libsystemd/sd-login/sd-login.c
index a81b21062a..c5d54bbf74 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/sd-login/sd-login.c
+++ b/src/libsystemd/sd-login/sd-login.c
@@ -124,10 +124,9 @@ _public_ int sd_pid_get_cgroup(pid_t pid, char **cgroup) {
          * cgroup, let's return the "/" in the public APIs instead, as
          * that's easier and less ambiguous for people to grok. */
         if (isempty(c)) {
-                free(c);
-                c = strdup("/");
-                if (!c)
-                        return -ENOMEM;
+                r = free_and_strdup(&c, "/");
+                if (r < 0)
+                        return r;
 
         }
 
diff --git a/src/nspawn/nspawn-network.c b/src/nspawn/nspawn-network.c
index b1c4f1cad8..c2ba00c438 100644
--- a/src/nspawn/nspawn-network.c
+++ b/src/nspawn/nspawn-network.c
@@ -712,10 +712,9 @@ int veth_extra_parse(char ***l, const char *p) {
         if (r < 0)
                 return r;
         if (r == 0 || !ifname_valid(b)) {
-                free(b);
-                b = strdup(a);
-                if (!b)
-                        return -ENOMEM;
+                r = free_and_strdup(&b, a);
+                if (r < 0)
+                        return r;
         }
 
         if (p)