diff --git a/src/imlib.c b/src/imlib.c
index 36c8dffcc6b8c11360e3a831509f182ec3c58fc2..b3bf04b42843737c07629bcd81256bdfa4615184 100644
--- a/src/imlib.c
+++ b/src/imlib.c
@@ -566,6 +566,8 @@ void im_weprintf(winwidget w, char *fmt, ...)
 	if (fmt[0] != '\0' && fmt[strlen(fmt) - 1] == ':')
 		fprintf(stderr, " %s", strerror(errno));
 	fputs("\n", stderr);
+	if (!w)
+		free(errstr);
 }