diff --git a/libnm-core/nm-utils.c b/libnm-core/nm-utils.c
index 6ced0937f3..4532ab26db 100644
--- a/libnm-core/nm-utils.c
+++ b/libnm-core/nm-utils.c
@@ -2771,7 +2771,7 @@ nm_utils_hwaddr_canonical (const char *asc, gssize length)
 	if (nm_utils_hwaddr_aton (asc, buf, length) == NULL)
 		return NULL;
 
-	return g_strdup (nm_utils_hwaddr_ntoa (buf, length));
+	return nm_utils_hwaddr_ntoa (buf, length);
 }
 
 /* This is used to possibly canonicalize values passed to MAC address property