diff --git a/builtin/commit.c b/builtin/commit.c
index 38b9a9cc0d0e1beba3258f907e95ae1ad76f85f5..fbbb40fff93f652fbe23730272fb88a6dbda29b6 100644
--- a/builtin/commit.c
+++ b/builtin/commit.c
@@ -962,7 +962,7 @@ static const char *read_commit_message(const char *name)
 	 * encodings are identical.
 	 */
 	if (out == NULL)
-		out = xstrdup(commit->buffer);
+		out = commit->buffer;
 	return out;
 }