diff --git a/encoding.c b/encoding.c
index 58cc8c1..fc768ab 100644
--- a/encoding.c
+++ b/encoding.c
@@ -1263,6 +1263,7 @@
     handler = (xmlCharEncodingHandlerPtr)
               xmlMalloc(sizeof(xmlCharEncodingHandler));
     if (handler == NULL) {
+        xmlFree(up);
         xmlGenericError(xmlGenericErrorContext,
 		"xmlNewCharEncodingHandler : out of memory !\n");
 	return(NULL);