diff --git a/dix/rpcbuf.c b/dix/rpcbuf.c
index 05b77867e9..de9dfcd560 100644
--- a/dix/rpcbuf.c
+++ b/dix/rpcbuf.c
@@ -16,10 +16,8 @@ Bool x_rpcbuf_makeroom(struct x_rpcbuf *rpcbuf, size_t needed)
 
     /* not allocated yet ? */
     if (!rpcbuf->buffer) {
-        if (!(rpcbuf->buffer = calloc(1, XLIBRE_RPCBUF_CHUNK_SIZE))) {
-            rpcbuf->error = TRUE;
-            return FALSE;
-        }
+        if (!(rpcbuf->buffer = calloc(1, XLIBRE_RPCBUF_CHUNK_SIZE)))
+            goto err;
         rpcbuf->size = XLIBRE_RPCBUF_CHUNK_SIZE;
         rpcbuf->wpos = 0;
     }
@@ -32,15 +30,22 @@ Bool x_rpcbuf_makeroom(struct x_rpcbuf *rpcbuf, size_t needed)
                                 * XLIBRE_RPCBUF_CHUNK_SIZE;
 
     char *newbuf = realloc(rpcbuf->buffer, newsize);
-    if (!newbuf) {
-        rpcbuf->error = TRUE;
-        return FALSE;
-    }
+    if (!newbuf)
+        goto err;
+
     memset(newbuf + rpcbuf->size, 0, newsize - rpcbuf->size);
     rpcbuf->buffer = newbuf;
     rpcbuf->size = newsize;
 
     return TRUE;
+
+err:
+    rpcbuf->error = TRUE;
+    if (rpcbuf->err_clear) {
+        free(rpcbuf->buffer);
+        rpcbuf->buffer = NULL;
+    }
+    return FALSE;
 }
 
 void x_rpcbuf_clear(struct x_rpcbuf *rpcbuf)
diff --git a/dix/rpcbuf_priv.h b/dix/rpcbuf_priv.h
index 725791be70..f853f66f61 100644
--- a/dix/rpcbuf_priv.h
+++ b/dix/rpcbuf_priv.h
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ typedef struct x_rpcbuf {
     char *buffer;   /* pointer to whole buffer */
     Bool swapped;   /* TRUE when typed write operation shall byte-swap */
     Bool error;     /* TRUE when the last allocation failed */
+    Bool err_clear; /* set to TRUE if should automatically clear on error */
 } x_rpcbuf_t;
 
 #define XLIBRE_RPCBUF_CHUNK_SIZE 4096