diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-c2c.c b/tools/perf/builtin-c2c.c
index 763c2edf52e7dd701f4ccdcb92e162f3a2bc942f..1452e5153c604addec427302bdcff0a8d2924459 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-c2c.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-c2c.c
@@ -2626,6 +2626,7 @@ static int build_cl_output(char *cl_sort, bool no_source)
 	bool add_sym   = false;
 	bool add_dso   = false;
 	bool add_src   = false;
+	int ret = 0;
 
 	if (!buf)
 		return -ENOMEM;
@@ -2644,7 +2645,8 @@ static int build_cl_output(char *cl_sort, bool no_source)
 			add_dso = true;
 		} else if (strcmp(tok, "offset")) {
 			pr_err("unrecognized sort token: %s\n", tok);
-			return -EINVAL;
+			ret = -EINVAL;
+			goto err;
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -2667,13 +2669,15 @@ static int build_cl_output(char *cl_sort, bool no_source)
 		add_sym ? "symbol," : "",
 		add_dso ? "dso," : "",
 		add_src ? "cl_srcline," : "",
-		"node") < 0)
-		return -ENOMEM;
+		"node") < 0) {
+		ret = -ENOMEM;
+		goto err;
+	}
 
 	c2c.show_src = add_src;
-
+err:
 	free(buf);
-	return 0;
+	return ret;
 }
 
 static int setup_coalesce(const char *coalesce, bool no_source)