diff --git a/tools/perf/util/dso.c b/tools/perf/util/dso.c
index 55c983586b051c12666294f18f98c891fc33a310..f8c849767c4dd847c9ef4f900f2ba11b483f94d9 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/dso.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/dso.c
@@ -379,7 +379,7 @@ struct dso *dso__kernel_findnew(struct machine *machine, const char *name,
 	 * processing we had no idea this was the kernel dso.
 	 */
 	if (dso != NULL) {
-		dso__set_short_name(dso, short_name);
+		dso__set_short_name(dso, short_name, false);
 		dso->kernel = dso_type;
 	}
 
@@ -394,17 +394,22 @@ void dso__set_long_name(struct dso *dso, char *name)
 	dso->long_name_len = strlen(name);
 }
 
-void dso__set_short_name(struct dso *dso, const char *name)
+void dso__set_short_name(struct dso *dso, const char *name, bool name_allocated)
 {
 	if (name == NULL)
 		return;
-	dso->short_name = name;
-	dso->short_name_len = strlen(name);
+
+	if (dso->short_name_allocated)
+		free((char *)dso->short_name);
+
+	dso->short_name		  = name;
+	dso->short_name_len	  = strlen(name);
+	dso->short_name_allocated = name_allocated;
 }
 
 static void dso__set_basename(struct dso *dso)
 {
-	dso__set_short_name(dso, basename(dso->long_name));
+	dso__set_short_name(dso, basename(dso->long_name), false);
 }
 
 int dso__name_len(const struct dso *dso)
@@ -440,7 +445,7 @@ struct dso *dso__new(const char *name)
 		int i;
 		strcpy(dso->name, name);
 		dso__set_long_name(dso, dso->name);
-		dso__set_short_name(dso, dso->name);
+		dso__set_short_name(dso, dso->name, false);
 		for (i = 0; i < MAP__NR_TYPES; ++i)
 			dso->symbols[i] = dso->symbol_names[i] = RB_ROOT;
 		dso->cache = RB_ROOT;
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/dso.h b/tools/perf/util/dso.h
index 00a232d896071662f1090d366c7cf31c290b7d92..8eceab78088f028adb98ba4be9477022e61b990e 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/dso.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/dso.h
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ static inline void dso__set_loaded(struct dso *dso, enum map_type type)
 struct dso *dso__new(const char *name);
 void dso__delete(struct dso *dso);
 
-void dso__set_short_name(struct dso *dso, const char *name);
+void dso__set_short_name(struct dso *dso, const char *name, bool name_allocated);
 void dso__set_long_name(struct dso *dso, char *name);
 
 int dso__name_len(const struct dso *dso);
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/machine.c b/tools/perf/util/machine.c
index f85da9a9a5d939a08d7017f84f881a91789a55a9..09d5c66d408799dda571d7a82f01e5a7e27152d3 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/machine.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/machine.c
@@ -935,8 +935,7 @@ static int machine__process_kernel_mmap_event(struct machine *machine,
 		if (name == NULL)
 			goto out_problem;
 
-		dso__set_short_name(map->dso, name);
-		map->dso->short_name_allocated = 1;
+		dso__set_short_name(map->dso, name, true);
 		map->end = map->start + event->mmap.len;
 	} else if (is_kernel_mmap) {
 		const char *symbol_name = (event->mmap.filename +