diff --git a/src/shared/json.c b/src/shared/json.c
index 06ef5562331..6d23bdf4f9c 100644
--- a/src/shared/json.c
+++ b/src/shared/json.c
@@ -4581,7 +4581,7 @@ static int json_cmp_strings(const void *x, const void *y) {
 
 int json_variant_sort(JsonVariant **v) {
         _cleanup_free_ JsonVariant **a = NULL;
-        JsonVariant *n = NULL;
+        _cleanup_(json_variant_unrefp) JsonVariant *n = NULL;
         size_t m;
         int r;
 
@@ -4614,7 +4614,7 @@ int json_variant_sort(JsonVariant **v) {
         if (!n->sorted) /* Check if this worked. This will fail if there are multiple identical keys used. */
                 return -ENOTUNIQ;
 
-        JSON_VARIANT_REPLACE(*v, n);
+        JSON_VARIANT_REPLACE(*v, TAKE_PTR(n));
 
         return 1;
 }
diff --git a/test/fuzz/fuzz-json/leak-sort b/test/fuzz/fuzz-json/leak-sort
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f8446dbdc7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fuzz/fuzz-json/leak-sort
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{"":2,"":6,"-":7}
\ No newline at end of file