--- neon-0.27.0/src/ne_auth.c.gssapi
+++ neon-0.27.0/src/ne_auth.c
@@ -532,7 +532,7 @@ static int verify_negotiate_response(str
     char *duphdr = ne_strdup(hdr);
     char *sep, *ptr = strchr(duphdr, ' ');
     int ret;
-    ne_buffer *errmsg;
+    ne_buffer *errmsg = NULL;
 
     if (strncmp(hdr, "Negotiate", ptr - duphdr) != 0) {
         ne_set_error(sess->sess, _("Negotiate response verification failed: "
@@ -560,8 +560,10 @@ static int verify_negotiate_response(str
         ne_set_error(sess->sess, _("Negotiate response verification failure: %s"),
                      errmsg->data);
     }
-    ne_buffer_destroy(errmsg);
+
+    if (errmsg) ne_buffer_destroy(errmsg);
     ne_free(duphdr);
+
     return ret ? NE_ERROR : NE_OK;
 }
 #endif