diff --git a/lib/url.c b/lib/url.c
index fe32cba777a3743e9a3d038c7416e86424840f2d..cfaab0601f321be7a22a4522b0355177fc2bb334 100644
--- a/lib/url.c
+++ b/lib/url.c
@@ -1520,6 +1520,7 @@ CURLcode Curl_setopt(struct SessionHandle *data, CURLoption option,
         else {
             memcpy(p, userpwd, username_len);
             p[username_len] = '\0';
+            Curl_safefree(data->set.str[STRING_USERNAME]);
             data->set.str[STRING_USERNAME] = p;
         }