diff --git a/applypatch/imgdiff.cpp b/applypatch/imgdiff.cpp
index 2f0e165..3951506 100644
--- a/applypatch/imgdiff.cpp
+++ b/applypatch/imgdiff.cpp
@@ -198,7 +198,6 @@
   if (fread(img, 1, sz, f) != sz) {
     printf("failed to read \"%s\" %s\n", filename, strerror(errno));
     fclose(f);
-    free(img);
     return NULL;
   }
   fclose(f);