diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-kmem.c b/tools/perf/builtin-kmem.c
index 24ee68ecdd427b5c4a398a96c286006c56a04810..d8f25ef8157b5526ea97d817aee1b2a3213be9d3 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-kmem.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-kmem.c
@@ -1983,7 +1983,8 @@ int cmd_kmem(int argc, const char **argv)
 
 	if (perf_time__parse_str(&ptime, time_str) != 0) {
 		pr_err("Invalid time string\n");
-		return -EINVAL;
+		ret = -EINVAL;
+		goto out_delete;
 	}
 
 	if (!strcmp(argv[0], "stat")) {