diff --git a/src/parser_expat.c b/src/parser_expat.c
index e37460c..facd47b 100644
--- a/src/parser_expat.c
+++ b/src/parser_expat.c
@@ -295,12 +295,26 @@ char *parser_attr_name(xmpp_ctx_t *ctx, char *nsname)
     return _xml_name(ctx, nsname);
 }
 
+static void _free_parent_stanza(xmpp_stanza_t *stanza)
+{
+    xmpp_stanza_t *parent;
+
+    for (parent = stanza; parent->parent != NULL; parent = parent->parent)
+        ;
+    xmpp_stanza_release(parent);
+}
+
 /* free a parser */
 void parser_free(parser_t *parser)
 {
     if (parser->expat)
         XML_ParserFree(parser->expat);
 
+    if (parser->stanza) {
+        _free_parent_stanza(parser->stanza);
+        parser->stanza = NULL;
+    }
+
     if (parser->inner_text) {
         xmpp_free(parser->ctx, parser->inner_text);
         parser->inner_text = NULL;
@@ -330,7 +344,7 @@ int parser_reset(parser_t *parser)
     }
 
     if (parser->stanza) {
-        xmpp_stanza_release(parser->stanza);
+        _free_parent_stanza(parser->stanza);
         parser->stanza = NULL;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/parser_libxml2.c b/src/parser_libxml2.c
index c0167d9..a2714c4 100644
--- a/src/parser_libxml2.c
+++ b/src/parser_libxml2.c
@@ -262,13 +262,22 @@ char *parser_attr_name(xmpp_ctx_t *ctx, char *nsname)
     return xmpp_strdup(ctx, nsname);
 }
 
+static void _free_parent_stanza(xmpp_stanza_t *stanza)
+{
+    xmpp_stanza_t *parent;
+
+    for (parent = stanza; parent->parent != NULL; parent = parent->parent)
+        ;
+    xmpp_stanza_release(parent);
+}
+
 /* free a parser */
 void parser_free(parser_t *parser)
 {
     if (parser->xmlctx)
         xmlFreeParserCtxt(parser->xmlctx);
     if (parser->stanza)
-        xmpp_stanza_release(parser->stanza);
+        _free_parent_stanza(parser->stanza);
     xmpp_free(parser->ctx, parser);
 }
 
@@ -278,7 +287,7 @@ int parser_reset(parser_t *parser)
     if (parser->xmlctx)
         xmlFreeParserCtxt(parser->xmlctx);
     if (parser->stanza)
-        xmpp_stanza_release(parser->stanza);
+        _free_parent_stanza(parser->stanza);
 
     parser->stanza = NULL;
     parser->depth = 0;
diff --git a/tests/test_stanza.c b/tests/test_stanza.c
index 0b28c5f..14cf8ab 100644
--- a/tests/test_stanza.c
+++ b/tests/test_stanza.c
@@ -110,6 +110,10 @@ static void test_stanza_from_string(xmpp_ctx_t *ctx)
     assert(strcmp(buf, str) == 0);
     xmpp_free(ctx, buf);
     xmpp_stanza_release(stanza);
+
+    /* Error path. */
+    stanza = xmpp_stanza_new_from_string(ctx, "<uu><uu>tt");
+    assert(stanza == NULL);
 }
 
 int main()