diff --git a/contrib/plugins/lockstep.c b/contrib/plugins/lockstep.c
index 237543b43a..67a779ee9d 100644
--- a/contrib/plugins/lockstep.c
+++ b/contrib/plugins/lockstep.c
@@ -347,7 +347,7 @@ QEMU_PLUGIN_EXPORT int qemu_plugin_install(qemu_plugin_id_t id,
                 return -1;
             }
         } else if (g_strcmp0(tokens[0], "sockpath") == 0) {
-            sock_path = tokens[1];
+            sock_path = g_strdup(tokens[1]);
         } else {
             fprintf(stderr, "option parsing failed: %s\n", p);
             return -1;