diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index 86474a55c9..035a24e52b 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -2788,6 +2788,7 @@ static void configure_accelerators(const char *progname)
                 error_report("invalid accelerator %s", *tmp);
             }
         }
+        g_strfreev(accel_list);
     } else {
         if (accel != NULL) {
             error_report("The -accel and \"-machine accel=\" options are incompatible");