diff --git a/src/win/util.c b/src/win/util.c
index a96cb915930a30a49ba55fd7d15ea48f0b471f89..ccffcaf5ffc68d888e76a12b444df872f67c3dab 100644
--- a/src/win/util.c
+++ b/src/win/util.c
@@ -1001,7 +1001,9 @@ int uv_os_tmpdir(char* buffer, size_t* size) {
     path[len] = L'\0';
   }
 
-  return uv__copy_utf16_to_utf8(path, len, buffer, size);
+  int rc = uv__copy_utf16_to_utf8(path, len, buffer, size);
+  uv__free(path);
+  return rc;
 }