diff --git a/direct/src/distributed/cConnectionRepository.cxx b/direct/src/distributed/cConnectionRepository.cxx
index f04f280936..1b6f06b6f3 100644
--- a/direct/src/distributed/cConnectionRepository.cxx
+++ b/direct/src/distributed/cConnectionRepository.cxx
@@ -717,6 +717,7 @@ handle_update_field() {
         nassertr(neverDisable != nullptr, false);
 
         unsigned int cNeverDisable = PyLong_AsLong(neverDisable);
+        Py_DECREF(neverDisable);
         if (!cNeverDisable) {
           // in quiet zone and distobj is disable-able drop update on the
           // floor