diff --git a/qemu-char.c b/qemu-char.c
index bb0c32d874a29a0e6c18524e8cbc785b9dcddf07..ee4f4cab2def457357e5ede4801f2ae61dc85a7d 100644
--- a/qemu-char.c
+++ b/qemu-char.c
@@ -2559,6 +2559,7 @@ CharDriverState *qemu_chr_open(const char *label, const char *filename, void (*i
     if (chr && qemu_opt_get_bool(opts, "mux", 0)) {
         monitor_init(chr, MONITOR_USE_READLINE);
     }
+    qemu_opts_del(opts);
     return chr;
 }