diff --git a/ext/curl/interface.c b/ext/curl/interface.c
index 7fc1c77e9a9a..4e4da5503bbb 100644
--- a/ext/curl/interface.c
+++ b/ext/curl/interface.c
@@ -770,6 +770,7 @@ static int curl_prereqfunction(void *clientp, char *conn_primary_ip, char *conn_
 				zend_value_error("The CURLOPT_PREREQFUNCTION callback must return either CURL_PREREQFUNC_OK or CURL_PREREQFUNC_ABORT");
 			}
 		} else {
+			zval_ptr_dtor(&retval);
 			zend_type_error("The CURLOPT_PREREQFUNCTION callback must return either CURL_PREREQFUNC_OK or CURL_PREREQFUNC_ABORT");
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/ext/curl/tests/curl_setopt_CURLOPT_PREREQFUNCTION.phpt b/ext/curl/tests/curl_setopt_CURLOPT_PREREQFUNCTION.phpt
index d11e29f078c0..75d9324f15db 100644
--- a/ext/curl/tests/curl_setopt_CURLOPT_PREREQFUNCTION.phpt
+++ b/ext/curl/tests/curl_setopt_CURLOPT_PREREQFUNCTION.phpt
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ try {
 
 echo "\nTesting with invalid type\n";
 curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_PREREQFUNCTION, function() use ($port) {
-	return 'this should be an integer';
+	return ['this should be an integer' => random_bytes(64)];
 });
 try {
     curl_exec($ch);