diff --git a/lib/virtio/virtio.c b/lib/virtio/virtio.c
index 1a9709a901..1e2991a1a3 100644
--- a/lib/virtio/virtio.c
+++ b/lib/virtio/virtio.c
@@ -165,6 +165,8 @@ virtio_init_queue(struct virtio_dev *dev, uint16_t vtpci_queue_idx)
 
 	if (virtio_dev_backend_ops(dev)->setup_queue(dev, vq) < 0) {
 		SPDK_ERRLOG("setup_queue failed\n");
+		spdk_dma_free(vq);
+		dev->vqs[vtpci_queue_idx] = NULL;
 		return -EINVAL;
 	}
 
diff --git a/lib/virtio/virtio_pci.c b/lib/virtio/virtio_pci.c
index 24f9b35725..2dc1e6f6b7 100644
--- a/lib/virtio/virtio_pci.c
+++ b/lib/virtio/virtio_pci.c
@@ -281,6 +281,7 @@ modern_setup_queue(struct virtio_dev *dev, struct virtqueue *vq)
 	vq->vq_ring_virt_mem = queue_mem;
 
 	if (!check_vq_phys_addr_ok(vq)) {
+		spdk_dma_free(queue_mem);
 		return -1;
 	}
 
diff --git a/lib/virtio/virtio_user.c b/lib/virtio/virtio_user.c
index 6e30bcef06..a40b9f7919 100644
--- a/lib/virtio/virtio_user.c
+++ b/lib/virtio/virtio_user.c
@@ -366,14 +366,6 @@ virtio_user_setup_queue(struct virtio_dev *vdev, struct virtqueue *vq)
 		return -1;
 	}
 
-	queue_mem = spdk_dma_zmalloc(vq->vq_ring_size, VIRTIO_PCI_VRING_ALIGN, NULL);
-	if (queue_mem == NULL) {
-		return -ENOMEM;
-	}
-
-	vq->vq_ring_mem = SPDK_VTOPHYS_ERROR;
-	vq->vq_ring_virt_mem = queue_mem;
-
 	/* May use invalid flag, but some backend uses kickfd and
 	 * callfd as criteria to judge if dev is alive. so finally we
 	 * use real event_fd.
@@ -391,6 +383,16 @@ virtio_user_setup_queue(struct virtio_dev *vdev, struct virtqueue *vq)
 		return -1;
 	}
 
+	queue_mem = spdk_dma_zmalloc(vq->vq_ring_size, VIRTIO_PCI_VRING_ALIGN, NULL);
+	if (queue_mem == NULL) {
+		close(kickfd);
+		close(callfd);
+		return -ENOMEM;
+	}
+
+	vq->vq_ring_mem = SPDK_VTOPHYS_ERROR;
+	vq->vq_ring_virt_mem = queue_mem;
+
 	state.index = vq->vq_queue_index;
 	state.num = 0;
 
@@ -398,6 +400,7 @@ virtio_user_setup_queue(struct virtio_dev *vdev, struct virtqueue *vq)
 	    dev->ops->send_request(dev, VHOST_USER_SET_VRING_ENABLE, &state) < 0) {
 		SPDK_ERRLOG("failed to send VHOST_USER_SET_VRING_ENABLE: %s\n",
 			    spdk_strerror(errno));
+		spdk_dma_free(queue_mem);
 		return -1;
 	}