diff --git a/hw/virtio/vhost-vsock-common.c b/hw/virtio/vhost-vsock-common.c
index 3f3771274e..ed706681ac 100644
--- a/hw/virtio/vhost-vsock-common.c
+++ b/hw/virtio/vhost-vsock-common.c
@@ -153,19 +153,23 @@ static void vhost_vsock_common_send_transport_reset(VHostVSockCommon *vvc)
     if (elem->out_num) {
         error_report("invalid vhost-vsock event virtqueue element with "
                      "out buffers");
-        goto out;
+        goto err;
     }
 
     if (iov_from_buf(elem->in_sg, elem->in_num, 0,
                      &event, sizeof(event)) != sizeof(event)) {
         error_report("vhost-vsock event virtqueue element is too short");
-        goto out;
+        goto err;
     }
 
     virtqueue_push(vq, elem, sizeof(event));
     virtio_notify(VIRTIO_DEVICE(vvc), vq);
 
-out:
+    g_free(elem);
+    return;
+
+err:
+    virtqueue_detach_element(vq, elem, 0);
     g_free(elem);
 }