diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 071b63b5ff5..724540b4540 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ What's New in Python 3.3.0 Beta 1?
 Core and Builtins
 -----------------
 
+- Fix a (most likely) very rare memory leak when calling main() and not being
+  able to decode a command-line argument.
+
 - Issue #14815: Use Py_ssize_t instead of long for the object hash, to
   preserve all 64 bits of hash on Win64.
 
diff --git a/Modules/python.c b/Modules/python.c
index cf9383f444e..c70bf378279 100644
--- a/Modules/python.c
+++ b/Modules/python.c
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
         argv_copy[i] = _Py_char2wchar(argv[i], NULL);
 #endif
         if (!argv_copy[i]) {
+            free(oldloc);
             fprintf(stderr, "Fatal Python error: "
                             "unable to decode the command line argument #%i\n",
                             i + 1);