diff --git a/onnxruntime/core/providers/openvino/backend_utils.cc b/onnxruntime/core/providers/openvino/backend_utils.cc
index ad3dcedc70..9527920ea4 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/core/providers/openvino/backend_utils.cc
+++ b/onnxruntime/core/providers/openvino/backend_utils.cc
@@ -26,7 +26,9 @@ bool IsDebugEnabled() {
 #ifdef _WIN32
   size_t env_name_len = 0;
   char* env_name = nullptr;
-  return (_dupenv_s(&env_name, &env_name_len, "ORT_OPENVINO_ENABLE_DEBUG") == 0 && env_name != nullptr);
+  bool res = (_dupenv_s(&env_name, &env_name_len, "ORT_OPENVINO_ENABLE_DEBUG") == 0 && env_name != nullptr);
+  free(env_name);
+  return res;
 #else
   return (std::getenv("ORT_OPENVINO_ENABLE_DEBUG") != nullptr);
 #endif