diff --git a/server/modules/protocol/MySQL/mariadbbackend/mysql_backend.c b/server/modules/protocol/MySQL/mariadbbackend/mysql_backend.c
index 534fe9212..55e5a2fd8 100644
--- a/server/modules/protocol/MySQL/mariadbbackend/mysql_backend.c
+++ b/server/modules/protocol/MySQL/mariadbbackend/mysql_backend.c
@@ -858,6 +858,7 @@ gw_read_and_write(DCB *dcb)
         if (auth_change_requested(read_buffer) &&
             handle_auth_change_response(read_buffer, proto, dcb))
         {
+            gwbuf_free(read_buffer);
             return 0;
         }
         else