diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_interface.c b/src/qemu/qemu_interface.c
index 10a87a2528..ddd4ee2731 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_interface.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_interface.c
@@ -643,7 +643,7 @@ qemuSlirpPtr
 qemuInterfacePrepareSlirp(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
                           virDomainNetDefPtr net)
 {
-    virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg = virQEMUDriverGetConfig(driver);
+    g_autoptr(virQEMUDriverConfig) cfg = virQEMUDriverGetConfig(driver);
     g_autoptr(qemuSlirp) slirp = NULL;
     size_t i;