diff --git a/src/tools/tor_runner.c b/src/tools/tor_runner.c
index 9ed2ee5775291bd3c1139db1cf7e3fca9c518998..7c43b0d2449f64aff4964d02f91b7ba16d6efdda 100644
--- a/src/tools/tor_runner.c
+++ b/src/tools/tor_runner.c
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@ child(const tor_main_configuration_t *cfg)
   int rv = execv(BINDIR "/tor", args);
 
   if (rv < 0) {
+    free(args);
     exit(254);
   } else {
     abort(); /* Unreachable */