diff --git a/hw/core/machine.c b/hw/core/machine.c
index 54f04a5ac6..d49ebc24e2 100644
--- a/hw/core/machine.c
+++ b/hw/core/machine.c
@@ -897,7 +897,7 @@ static void machine_set_smp(Object *obj, Visitor *v, const char *name,
 {
     MachineClass *mc = MACHINE_GET_CLASS(obj);
     MachineState *ms = MACHINE(obj);
-    SMPConfiguration *config;
+    g_autoptr(SMPConfiguration) config = NULL;
     ERRP_GUARD();
 
     if (!visit_type_SMPConfiguration(v, name, &config, errp)) {
@@ -920,7 +920,7 @@ static void machine_set_smp(Object *obj, Visitor *v, const char *name,
 
     smp_parse(ms, config, errp);
     if (*errp) {
-        goto out_free;
+        return;
     }
 
     /* sanity-check smp_cpus and max_cpus against mc */
@@ -935,9 +935,6 @@ static void machine_set_smp(Object *obj, Visitor *v, const char *name,
                    ms->smp.max_cpus,
                    mc->name, mc->max_cpus);
     }
-
-out_free:
-    qapi_free_SMPConfiguration(config);
 }
 
 static void machine_class_init(ObjectClass *oc, void *data)