diff --git a/src/hq_interop.c b/src/hq_interop.c
index caf45656b..55cccf134 100644
--- a/src/hq_interop.c
+++ b/src/hq_interop.c
@@ -23,9 +23,6 @@ static ssize_t hq_interop_rcv_buf(struct qcs *qcs, struct buffer *b, int fin)
 	/* hq-interop parser does not support buffer wrapping. */
 	BUG_ON(b_data(b) != b_contig_data(b, 0));
 
-	b_alloc(&htx_buf, DB_MUX_RX);
-	htx = htx_from_buf(&htx_buf);
-
 	/* skip method */
 	while (data && HTTP_IS_TOKEN(*ptr)) {
 		ptr++;
@@ -62,9 +59,14 @@ static ssize_t hq_interop_rcv_buf(struct qcs *qcs, struct buffer *b, int fin)
 
 	path.len = ptr - path.ptr;
 
+	b_alloc(&htx_buf, DB_MUX_RX);
+	htx = htx_from_buf(&htx_buf);
+
 	sl = htx_add_stline(htx, HTX_BLK_REQ_SL, 0, ist("GET"), path, ist("HTTP/1.0"));
-	if (!sl)
+	if (!sl) {
+		b_free(&htx_buf);
 		return -1;
+	}
 
 	sl->flags |= HTX_SL_F_BODYLESS;
 	sl->info.req.meth = find_http_meth("GET", 3);
@@ -73,8 +75,10 @@ static ssize_t hq_interop_rcv_buf(struct qcs *qcs, struct buffer *b, int fin)
 	htx->flags |= HTX_FL_EOM;
 	htx_to_buf(htx, &htx_buf);
 
-	if (qcs_attach_sc(qcs, &htx_buf, fin))
+	if (qcs_attach_sc(qcs, &htx_buf, fin)) {
+		b_free(&htx_buf);
 		return -1;
+	}
 
 	b_free(&htx_buf);