diff --git a/tools/perf/util/header.c b/tools/perf/util/header.c
index e17a8fe9c4d7..7b24cf3237d8 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/header.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/header.c
@@ -313,7 +313,8 @@ int build_id_cache__add_s(const char *sbuild_id, const char *debugdir,
 	if (is_kallsyms) {
 		if (symbol_conf.kptr_restrict) {
 			pr_debug("Not caching a kptr_restrict'ed /proc/kallsyms\n");
-			return 0;
+			err = 0;
+			goto out_free;
 		}
 		realname = (char *) name;
 	} else