diff --git a/libavcodec/vlc.c b/libavcodec/vlc.c
index e5ec325327..dc8863855e 100644
--- a/libavcodec/vlc.c
+++ b/libavcodec/vlc.c
@@ -481,6 +481,7 @@ int ff_vlc_init_multi_from_lengths(VLC *vlc, VLC_MULTI *multi, int nb_bits, int
 fail:
     if (buf != localbuf)
         av_free(buf);
+    ff_vlc_free_multi(multi);
     return AVERROR_INVALIDDATA;
 }