diff --git a/ChangeLog.adoc b/ChangeLog.adoc
index a34eb312b..4ef3cb5c8 100644
--- a/ChangeLog.adoc
+++ b/ChangeLog.adoc
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ Bug fixes::
   * buflist: fix slow switch of buffer when there are a lot of buffers opened (issue #998)
   * buflist: add option "bar" in command /buflist, do not automatically add the "buflist" bar when the option buflist.look.enabled is off (issue #994)
   * buflist: fix crash on drag & drop of buffers
+  * irc: fix memory leak in case of error in "ecdsa-nist256p-challenge" SASL mechanism
   * relay: fix parsing of CAP command arguments in irc protocol (issue #995)
 
 [[v1.8]]
diff --git a/src/plugins/irc/irc-sasl.c b/src/plugins/irc/irc-sasl.c
index c4b3c3f45..3518cb98e 100644
--- a/src/plugins/irc/irc-sasl.c
+++ b/src/plugins/irc/irc-sasl.c
@@ -294,6 +294,9 @@ irc_sasl_mechanism_ecdsa_nist256p_challenge (struct t_irc_server *server,
         free (string);
     }
 
+    if (string)
+        free (string);
+
     return answer_base64;
 
 #else /* no gnutls or gnutls < 3.0.21 */