diff --git a/dlls/msxml3/xmlelem.c b/dlls/msxml3/xmlelem.c
index 032760477a1..a71b18b1167 100644
--- a/dlls/msxml3/xmlelem.c
+++ b/dlls/msxml3/xmlelem.c
@@ -262,7 +262,6 @@ static HRESULT WINAPI xmlelem_getAttribute(IXMLElement *iface, BSTR name,
         xmlNsPtr ns;
         ns = xmlSearchNs(This->node->doc, This->node, (xmlChar*)"xml");
         val = xmlGetNsProp(This->node, (xmlChar*)"lang", ns->href);
-        xmlFreeNs(ns);
     }
     else
     {