diff --git a/src/platform/nm-linux-platform.c b/src/platform/nm-linux-platform.c
index b1a35c5f69..bb1b3608f3 100644
--- a/src/platform/nm-linux-platform.c
+++ b/src/platform/nm-linux-platform.c
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ get_kernel_object (struct nl_sock *sock, struct nl_object *needle)
 			g_return_val_if_fail (!nle, NULL);
 			object = nl_cache_search (cache, needle);
 
-			nl_cache_put (cache);
+			nl_cache_free (cache);
 			return object;
 		}
 	}