diff --git a/src/networking.c b/src/networking.c
index 24a601630..34e8b8481 100644
--- a/src/networking.c
+++ b/src/networking.c
@@ -458,9 +458,11 @@ void addReplyError(client *c, const char *err) {
 }
 
 /* See addReplyErrorLength for expectations from the input string. */
+/* As a side effect the SDS string is freed. */
 void addReplyErrorSds(client *c, sds err) {
     addReplyErrorLength(c,err,sdslen(err));
     afterErrorReply(c,err,sdslen(err));
+    sdsfree(err);
 }
 
 /* See addReplyErrorLength for expectations from the formatted string.
diff --git a/src/scripting.c b/src/scripting.c
index 2ac8268ed..e75892046 100644
--- a/src/scripting.c
+++ b/src/scripting.c
@@ -366,10 +366,7 @@ void luaReplyToRedisReply(client *c, lua_State *lua) {
         lua_gettable(lua,-2);
         t = lua_type(lua,-1);
         if (t == LUA_TSTRING) {
-            sds err = sdsnew(lua_tostring(lua,-1));
-            sdsmapchars(err,"\r\n","  ",2);
-            addReplyErrorSds(c,sdscatprintf(sdsempty(),"-%s",err));
-            sdsfree(err);
+            addReplyErrorFormat(c,"-%s",lua_tostring(lua,-1));
             lua_pop(lua,2);
             return;
         }
diff --git a/src/server.c b/src/server.c
index 90f669bdb..257a39f71 100644
--- a/src/server.c
+++ b/src/server.c
@@ -3689,10 +3689,11 @@ void rejectCommandFormat(client *c, const char *fmt, ...) {
     sdsmapchars(s, "\r\n", "  ",  2);
     if (c->cmd && c->cmd->proc == execCommand) {
         execCommandAbort(c, s);
+        sdsfree(s);
     } else {
+        /* The following frees 's'. */
         addReplyErrorSds(c, s);
     }
-    sdsfree(s);
 }
 
 /* Returns 1 for commands that may have key names in their arguments, but have