diff --git a/src/util/virdbus.c b/src/util/virdbus.c
index 0aa0fc6ee036353e385eac8b01a0a6b20ca7eec7..49c8b3c1ea82059d2d03220279f1d849b35f2b73 100644
--- a/src/util/virdbus.c
+++ b/src/util/virdbus.c
@@ -144,6 +144,7 @@ void virDBusCloseSystemBus(void)
 {
     if (systembus && !sharedBus) {
         dbus_connection_close(systembus);
+        dbus_connection_unref(systembus);
         systembus = NULL;
     }
 }