diff --git a/ls-tree.c b/ls-tree.c
index 7f8f8644af..4231c4b234 100644
--- a/ls-tree.c
+++ b/ls-tree.c
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ static int list(unsigned char *sha1)
 	if (!buffer)
 		die("unable to read sha1 file");
 	list_recursive(buffer, "tree", size, NULL);
+	free(buffer);
 	return 0;
 }