diff --git a/src/backend/access/transam/xlogrecovery.c b/src/backend/access/transam/xlogrecovery.c
index 54aaec9529f..20be788da78 100644
--- a/src/backend/access/transam/xlogrecovery.c
+++ b/src/backend/access/transam/xlogrecovery.c
@@ -2154,6 +2154,7 @@ CheckTablespaceDirectory(void)
 							   PG_TBLSPC_DIR),
 					 errhint("Remove those directories, or set \"allow_in_place_tablespaces\" to ON transiently to let recovery complete.")));
 	}
+	FreeDir(dir);
 }
 
 /*