diff --git a/fish/destpaths.c b/fish/destpaths.c
index 9c97bf0b2..f2241069b 100644
--- a/fish/destpaths.c
+++ b/fish/destpaths.c
@@ -154,7 +154,8 @@ complete_dest_paths_generator (const char *text, int state)
       /* If we've got a partial path already, we need to list everything
        * in that directory, otherwise list everything in /
        */
-      char *p, *dir;
+      CLEANUP_FREE char *dir = NULL;
+      char *p;
       struct guestfs_dirent_list *dirents;
 
       p = strrchr (text, '/');