diff --git a/src/libcrun/container.c b/src/libcrun/container.c
index 699188bc5f..501c1763a3 100644
--- a/src/libcrun/container.c
+++ b/src/libcrun/container.c
@@ -3304,6 +3304,7 @@ libcrun_container_create (libcrun_context_t *context, libcrun_container_t *conta
     {
       force_delete_container_status (context, def);
       libcrun_error ((*err)->status, "%s", (*err)->msg);
+      crun_error_release (err);
       crun_set_output_handler (log_write_to_stderr, NULL);
     }