diff --git a/lib/ldap.c b/lib/ldap.c
index 3afa81352..15c19b377 100644
--- a/lib/ldap.c
+++ b/lib/ldap.c
@@ -380,6 +380,7 @@ quit:
 
   /* no data to transfer */
   Curl_Transfer(conn, -1, -1, FALSE, NULL, -1, NULL);
+  conn->bits.close = TRUE;
 
   return status;
 }
@@ -474,9 +475,9 @@ static bool unescape_elements (LDAPURLDesc *ludp)
     char *new_dn = curl_unescape(dn, 0);
 
     free(dn);
+    ludp->lud_dn = new_dn;
     if (!new_dn)
        return (FALSE);
-    ludp->lud_dn = new_dn;
   }
   return (TRUE);
 }