diff --git a/usr.sbin/newsyslog/newsyslog.c b/usr.sbin/newsyslog/newsyslog.c
index 4108ac988c44..766c756e2e7b 100644
--- a/usr.sbin/newsyslog/newsyslog.c
+++ b/usr.sbin/newsyslog/newsyslog.c
@@ -2286,26 +2286,29 @@ mtime_old_timelog(const char *file)
 	time_t t;
 	struct dirent *dp;
 	DIR *dirp;
-	char *s, *logfname, *dir;
+	char *logfname, *logfnamebuf, *dir, *dirbuf;
 
 	t = -1;
 
-	if ((dir = dirname(file)) == NULL) {
-		warn("dirname() of '%s'", file);
+	if ((dirbuf = strdup(file)) == NULL) {
+		warn("strdup() of '%s'", file);
 		return (t);
 	}
-	if ((s = basename(file)) == NULL) {
-		warn("basename() of '%s'", file);
+	dir = dirname(dirbuf);
+	if ((logfnamebuf = strdup(file)) == NULL) {
+		warn("strdup() of '%s'", file);
+		free(dirbuf);
 		return (t);
-	} else if (s[0] == '/') {
-		warnx("Invalid log filename '%s'", s);
-		return (t);
-	} else if ((logfname = strdup(s)) == NULL)
-		err(1, "strdup()");
+	}
+	logfname = basename(logfnamebuf);
+	if (logfname[0] == '/') {
+		warnx("Invalid log filename '%s'", logfname);
+		goto out;
+	}
 
 	if ((dirp = opendir(dir)) == NULL) {
 		warn("Cannot open log directory '%s'", dir);
-		return (t);
+		goto out;
 	}
 	dir_fd = dirfd(dirp);
 	/* Open the archive dir and find the most recent archive of logfname. */
@@ -2322,6 +2325,9 @@ mtime_old_timelog(const char *file)
 	}
 	closedir(dirp);
 
+out:
+	free(dirbuf);
+	free(logfnamebuf);
 	return (t);
 }