diff --git a/telnetd/state.c b/telnetd/state.c
index 300421f..9cad0c5 100644
--- a/telnetd/state.c
+++ b/telnetd/state.c
@@ -1600,8 +1600,10 @@ output_data(const char *format, ...)
 	char *buf;
 
 	va_start(args, format);
-	if ((len = vasprintf(&buf, format, args)) == -1)
+	if ((len = vasprintf(&buf, format, args)) == -1) {
+		va_end(args);
 		return -1;
+	}
 	output_datalen(buf, len);
 	va_end(args);
 	free(buf);