diff --git a/src/settings/nm-settings.c b/src/settings/nm-settings.c
index 5c617e9d2d..411c13ecea 100644
--- a/src/settings/nm-settings.c
+++ b/src/settings/nm-settings.c
@@ -1337,7 +1337,7 @@ impl_settings_add_connection_helper (NMSettings *self,
                                      GVariant *settings,
                                      gboolean save_to_disk)
 {
-	NMConnection *connection;
+	gs_unref_object NMConnection *connection = NULL;
 	GError *error = NULL;
 
 	connection = _nm_simple_connection_new_from_dbus (settings,
@@ -1345,23 +1345,18 @@ impl_settings_add_connection_helper (NMSettings *self,
 	                                                  | NM_SETTING_PARSE_FLAGS_NORMALIZE,
 	                                                  &error);
 
-	if (connection) {
-		if (!nm_connection_verify_secrets (connection, &error))
-			goto failure;
-
-		nm_settings_add_connection_dbus (self,
-		                                 connection,
-		                                 save_to_disk,
-		                                 context,
-		                                 impl_settings_add_connection_add_cb,
-		                                 NULL);
-		g_object_unref (connection);
+	if (   !connection
+	    || !nm_connection_verify_secrets (connection, &error)) {
+		g_dbus_method_invocation_take_error (context, error);
 		return;
 	}
 
-failure:
-	g_assert (error);
-	g_dbus_method_invocation_take_error (context, error);
+	nm_settings_add_connection_dbus (self,
+	                                 connection,
+	                                 save_to_disk,
+	                                 context,
+	                                 impl_settings_add_connection_add_cb,
+	                                 NULL);
 }
 
 static void