diff --git a/gst/gstpluginfeature.c b/gst/gstpluginfeature.c
index e7c741de8b..664a85385a 100644
--- a/gst/gstpluginfeature.c
+++ b/gst/gstpluginfeature.c
@@ -489,6 +489,7 @@ _priv_gst_plugin_feature_rank_initialize (void)
           if (feature) {
             gst_plugin_feature_set_rank (feature, rank);
             GST_DEBUG ("Update rank of plugin feature \"%s\" to %d", str, rank);
+            gst_object_unref (feature);
           }
         }
       }