diff --git a/bfd/ChangeLog b/bfd/ChangeLog
index 186346e9c1..809f1ba56d 100644
--- a/bfd/ChangeLog
+++ b/bfd/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2019-12-30  Alan Modra  <amodra@gmail.com>
+
+	* coffgen.c (coff_real_object_p): Free malloc'd memory on failure.
+
 2019-12-30  Alan Modra  <amodra@gmail.com>
 
 	* archive.c (do_slurp_bsd_armap): Use bfd_alloc rather than
diff --git a/bfd/coffgen.c b/bfd/coffgen.c
index 57a18b02dc..34d8d50506 100644
--- a/bfd/coffgen.c
+++ b/bfd/coffgen.c
@@ -305,6 +305,9 @@ coff_real_object_p (bfd *abfd,
   return abfd->xvec;
 
  fail:
+  obj_coff_keep_syms (abfd) = FALSE;
+  obj_coff_keep_strings (abfd) = FALSE;
+  _bfd_coff_free_symbols (abfd);
   bfd_release (abfd, tdata);
  fail2:
   abfd->tdata.any = tdata_save;