diff --git a/apps/ca.c b/apps/ca.c
index b95f2efa0b5667c06afd2ea566dac3db311a004f..b6ab00abc635d3c735077c4bc5eb517d02aa2b6e 100644
--- a/apps/ca.c
+++ b/apps/ca.c
@@ -1912,7 +1912,6 @@ static int certify_spkac(X509 **xret, const char *infile, EVP_PKEY *pkey,
     sk = CONF_get_section(parms, "default");
     if (sk_CONF_VALUE_num(sk) == 0) {
         BIO_printf(bio_err, "no name/value pairs found in %s\n", infile);
-        CONF_free(parms);
         goto end;
     }