diff --git a/res/res_hep.c b/res/res_hep.c
index da23d2257a..007d3b0967 100644
--- a/res/res_hep.c
+++ b/res/res_hep.c
@@ -560,6 +560,7 @@ static void hepv3_config_post_apply(void)
 	}
 
 	ao2_global_obj_replace_unref(global_data, data);
+	ao2_ref(data, -1);
 }
 
 /*!