diff --git a/include/memory-stream.h b/include/memory-stream.h
index d14e48f..21dc03a 100644
--- a/include/memory-stream.h
+++ b/include/memory-stream.h
@@ -21,4 +21,12 @@ memory_stream_open(struct memory_stream *m);
 char *
 memory_stream_close(struct memory_stream *m);
 
+/**
+ * A small cleanup helper that simply
+ * calls free(memory_stream_close(m)) to avoid
+ * any dangling string pointers in cleanup/error paths.
+ */
+void
+memory_stream_cleanup(struct memory_stream *m);
+
 #endif
diff --git a/memory-stream.c b/memory-stream.c
index 571fc69..ba72eb1 100644
--- a/memory-stream.c
+++ b/memory-stream.c
@@ -28,3 +28,9 @@ memory_stream_close(struct memory_stream *m)
 
 	return str;
 }
+
+void
+memory_stream_cleanup(struct memory_stream *m)
+{
+	free(memory_stream_close(m));
+}