diff --git a/sys/kern/subr_taskqueue.c b/sys/kern/subr_taskqueue.c
index 00cb46f88b28..4be29f583ee5 100644
--- a/sys/kern/subr_taskqueue.c
+++ b/sys/kern/subr_taskqueue.c
@@ -130,14 +130,16 @@ _taskqueue_create(const char *name, int mflags,
 	char *tq_name;
 
 	tq_name = malloc(TASKQUEUE_NAMELEN, M_TASKQUEUE, mflags | M_ZERO);
-	if (!tq_name)
+	if (tq_name == NULL)
 		return (NULL);
 
-	snprintf(tq_name, TASKQUEUE_NAMELEN, "%s", (name) ? name : "taskqueue");
-
 	queue = malloc(sizeof(struct taskqueue), M_TASKQUEUE, mflags | M_ZERO);
-	if (!queue)
+	if (queue == NULL) {
+		free(tq_name, M_TASKQUEUE);
 		return (NULL);
+	}
+
+	snprintf(tq_name, TASKQUEUE_NAMELEN, "%s", (name) ? name : "taskqueue");
 
 	STAILQ_INIT(&queue->tq_queue);
 	TAILQ_INIT(&queue->tq_active);