1 files changed, 5 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index ebb7538e04..9251c47b72 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -5464,9 +5464,13 @@ static int diff_opt_ignore_regex(const struct option *opt,
 	regex_t *regex;
 
 	BUG_ON_OPT_NEG(unset);
+
 	regex = xmalloc(sizeof(*regex));
-	if (regcomp(regex, arg, REG_EXTENDED | REG_NEWLINE))
+	if (regcomp(regex, arg, REG_EXTENDED | REG_NEWLINE)) {
+		free(regex);
 		return error(_("invalid regex given to -I: '%s'"), arg);
+	}
+
 	ALLOC_GROW(options->ignore_regex, options->ignore_regex_nr + 1,
 		   options->ignore_regex_alloc);
 	options->ignore_regex[options->ignore_regex_nr++] = regex;