diff --git a/crypto/err/err.c b/crypto/err/err.c
index 91b0295fb5..06d1ef9c4a 100644
--- a/crypto/err/err.c
+++ b/crypto/err/err.c
@@ -468,10 +468,9 @@ static unsigned long get_error_values(int inc, const char **file, int *line,
 
 	if (data == NULL)
 		{
-		if (inc && (es->err_data[i] != NULL) && (es->err_data_flags[i] & ERR_TXT_MALLOCED))
+		if (inc)
 			{
-			OPENSSL_free(es->err_data[i]);
-			es->err_data[i] = NULL;
+			err_clear_data(es, i);
 			}
 		}
 	else