diff --git a/vm/ByteCodeTranslator/src/cn1_globals.m b/vm/ByteCodeTranslator/src/cn1_globals.m
index 51ecc12ee9..ae0b3bb143 100644
--- a/vm/ByteCodeTranslator/src/cn1_globals.m
+++ b/vm/ByteCodeTranslator/src/cn1_globals.m
@@ -528,6 +528,10 @@ void placeObjectInHeapCollection(JAVA_OBJECT obj) {
 // the thread just died, mark its remaining resources
 void collectThreadResources(struct ThreadLocalData *current)
 {
+    if(threadStateData->utf8Buffer != 0) {
+        free(threadStateData->utf8Buffer);
+        threadStateData->utf8Buffer = 0;
+    } 
     for(int heapTrav = 0 ; heapTrav < current->heapAllocationSize ; heapTrav++) {
         JAVA_OBJECT obj = (JAVA_OBJECT)current->pendingHeapAllocations[heapTrav];
         if(obj) {