diff --git a/sys/kern/kern_sig.c b/sys/kern/kern_sig.c
index 957f3d4dee4f..f7a2d31f2bb8 100644
--- a/sys/kern/kern_sig.c
+++ b/sys/kern/kern_sig.c
@@ -3210,14 +3210,8 @@ coredump(struct thread *td)
 	MPASS((p->p_flag & P_HADTHREADS) == 0 || p->p_singlethread == td);
 	_STOPEVENT(p, S_CORE, 0);
 
-	name = expand_name(p->p_comm, cred->cr_uid, p->p_pid, td, compress);
-	if (name == NULL) {
-		PROC_UNLOCK(p);
-		return (EINVAL);
-	}
 	if (!do_coredump || (!sugid_coredump && (p->p_flag & P_SUGID) != 0)) {
 		PROC_UNLOCK(p);
-		free(name, M_TEMP);
 		return (EFAULT);
 	}
 
@@ -3232,11 +3226,14 @@ coredump(struct thread *td)
 	limit = (off_t)lim_cur(p, RLIMIT_CORE);
 	if (limit == 0 || racct_get_available(p, RACCT_CORE) == 0) {
 		PROC_UNLOCK(p);
-		free(name, M_TEMP);
 		return (EFBIG);
 	}
 	PROC_UNLOCK(p);
 
+	name = expand_name(p->p_comm, cred->cr_uid, p->p_pid, td, compress);
+	if (name == NULL)
+		return (EINVAL);
+
 restart:
 	NDINIT(&nd, LOOKUP, NOFOLLOW, UIO_SYSSPACE, name, td);
 	flags = O_CREAT | FWRITE | O_NOFOLLOW;