diff --git a/zebra/rib.h b/zebra/rib.h
index 77d06762bc51..874021bd3201 100644
--- a/zebra/rib.h
+++ b/zebra/rib.h
@@ -337,6 +337,8 @@ extern void _route_entry_dump(const char *func, union prefixconstptr pp,
 			      union prefixconstptr src_pp,
 			      const struct route_entry *re);
 
+void zebra_rib_route_entry_free(struct route_entry *re);
+
 struct route_entry *
 zebra_rib_route_entry_new(vrf_id_t vrf_id, int type, uint8_t instance,
 			  uint32_t flags, uint32_t nhe_id, uint32_t table_id,
diff --git a/zebra/rt_netlink.c b/zebra/rt_netlink.c
index 2f50e8b8c4de..de14bb3268c6 100644
--- a/zebra/rt_netlink.c
+++ b/zebra/rt_netlink.c
@@ -993,6 +993,8 @@ int netlink_route_change_read_unicast_internal(struct nlmsghdr *h,
 						 re, ng, startup, ctx);
 			if (ng)
 				nexthop_group_delete(&ng);
+			if (ctx)
+				zebra_rib_route_entry_free(re);
 		} else {
 			/*
 			 * I really don't see how this is possible
diff --git a/zebra/zebra_rib.c b/zebra/zebra_rib.c
index 37814994abe7..16d7e957f933 100644
--- a/zebra/zebra_rib.c
+++ b/zebra/zebra_rib.c
@@ -4249,6 +4249,12 @@ struct route_entry *zebra_rib_route_entry_new(vrf_id_t vrf_id, int type,
 
 	return re;
 }
+
+void zebra_rib_route_entry_free(struct route_entry *re)
+{
+	XFREE(MTYPE_RE, re);
+}
+
 /*
  * Internal route-add implementation; there are a couple of different public
  * signatures. Callers in this path are responsible for the memory they