diff --git a/src/pulsecore/sink-input.c b/src/pulsecore/sink-input.c
index a7f6d5512..1ed5dda9f 100644
--- a/src/pulsecore/sink-input.c
+++ b/src/pulsecore/sink-input.c
@@ -1436,8 +1436,10 @@ void pa_sink_input_set_property(pa_sink_input *i, const char *key, const char *v
         if (value && old_value) {
             if (pa_streq(value, old_value))
                 goto finish;
-        } else
+        } else {
+            pa_xfree(old_value);
             old_value = pa_xstrdup("(data)");
+        }
     } else {
         if (!value)
             goto finish;
diff --git a/src/pulsecore/source-output.c b/src/pulsecore/source-output.c
index 9e951ff61..6c48bbc18 100644
--- a/src/pulsecore/source-output.c
+++ b/src/pulsecore/source-output.c
@@ -1089,8 +1089,10 @@ void pa_source_output_set_property(pa_source_output *o, const char *key, const c
         if (value && old_value) {
             if (pa_streq(value, old_value))
                 goto finish;
-        } else
+        } else {
+            pa_xfree(old_value);
             old_value = pa_xstrdup("(data)");
+        }
     } else {
         if (!value)
             goto finish;