--- a/sys/dev/netif/ath/ath_hal/ah_eeprom_9287.c
+++ b/sys/dev/netif/ath/ath_hal/ah_eeprom_9287.c
@@ -297,6 +297,7 @@
 	HAL_BOOL need_swap;
 	u_int w, off, len;
 	uint32_t sum;
+	HAL_STATUS ecode;
 
 	HALASSERT(ee == AH_NULL);
 
@@ -332,7 +333,8 @@
 			HALDEBUG(ah, HAL_DEBUG_ANY,
 			    "%s eeprom read error at offset 0x%x\n",
 			    __func__, off);
-			return HAL_EEREAD;
+			ecode = HAL_EEREAD;
+			goto fail;
 		}
 	}
 	/* Convert to eeprom native eeprom endian format */
@@ -373,7 +375,8 @@
 	if (sum != 0xffff) {
 		HALDEBUG(ah, HAL_DEBUG_ANY,
 		    "Bad EEPROM checksum 0x%x (Len=%u)\n", sum, len);
-		return HAL_EEBADSUM;
+		ecode = HAL_EEBADSUM;
+		goto fail;
 	}
 
 	if (need_swap)
@@ -392,7 +395,8 @@
 	if (owl_get_eep_ver(ee) != AR5416_EEP_VER) {
 		HALDEBUG(ah, HAL_DEBUG_ANY,
 		    "Bad EEPROM version 0x%x\n", owl_get_eep_ver(ee));
-		return HAL_EEBADSUM;
+		ecode = HAL_EEBADSUM;
+		goto fail;
 	}
 
 	v9287EepromReadCTLInfo(ah, ee);		/* Get CTLs */
@@ -405,5 +409,9 @@
 	AH_PRIVATE(ah)->ah_getSpurChan = v9287EepromGetSpurChan;
 	AH_PRIVATE(ah)->ah_eepromDiag = v9287EepromDiag;
 	return HAL_OK;
+
+fail:
+	ath_hal_free(ee);		/* not yet installed; nothing owns it */
+	return ecode;
 #undef NW
 }