diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 8a1afc3504..67feedb171 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,16 @@
+2008-03-17  Tim-Philipp Müller  <tim at centricular dot net>
+
+	* gst/gstindex.c: (gst_index_entry_free):
+	* gst/gstindex.h:
+	  Don't free key strings which we don't own. Fixes crash in
+	  gst_index_entry_free() (#522741).
+
+	* tests/check/Makefile.am:
+	* tests/check/gst/.cvsignore:
+	* tests/check/gst/gstindex.c: (test_index_entries),
+	  (gst_index_suite), (gst_index):
+	  Add unit test for the above.
+
 2008-03-11  Sebastian Dröge  <slomo@circular-chaos.org>
 
 	* win32/common/libgstreamer.def:
diff --git a/gst/gstindex.c b/gst/gstindex.c
index eb12397651..251beb0b2a 100644
--- a/gst/gstindex.c
+++ b/gst/gstindex.c
@@ -545,16 +545,8 @@ gst_index_entry_free (GstIndexEntry * entry)
       }
       break;
     case GST_INDEX_ENTRY_OBJECT:
-      if (entry->data.object.key) {
-        g_free (entry->data.object.key);
-        entry->data.object.key = NULL;
-      }
       break;
     case GST_INDEX_ENTRY_FORMAT:
-      if (entry->data.format.key) {
-        g_free (entry->data.format.key);
-        entry->data.format.key = NULL;
-      }
       break;
   }
 
diff --git a/gst/gstindex.h b/gst/gstindex.h
index 6ce477a219..99f5452d6f 100644
--- a/gst/gstindex.h
+++ b/gst/gstindex.h
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ struct _GstIndexEntry {
     } object;
     struct {
       GstFormat		 format;
-      gchar		*key;
+      const gchar	*key;
     } format;
   } data;
 };
diff --git a/tests/check/Makefile.am b/tests/check/Makefile.am
index bcc652322d..2a08bf7c49 100644
--- a/tests/check/Makefile.am
+++ b/tests/check/Makefile.am
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ REGISTRY_CHECKS =				\
 	gst/gstelement				\
 	gst/gstevent				\
 	gst/gstghostpad				\
+	gst/gstindex				\
 	gst/gstinterface				\
 	gst/gstplugin				\
 	gst/gstquery				\
diff --git a/tests/check/gst/.gitignore b/tests/check/gst/.gitignore
index 2a93de752f..85f72f4e7b 100644
--- a/tests/check/gst/.gitignore
+++ b/tests/check/gst/.gitignore
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ gstelement
 gstevent
 gstghostpad
 gstiterator
+gstindex
 gstinterface
 gstmessage
 gstminiobject
diff --git a/tests/check/gst/gstindex.c b/tests/check/gst/gstindex.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f533dd07e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/check/gst/gstindex.c
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+/* GStreamer GstIndex unit test
+ * Copyright (C) 2008 Tim-Philipp Müller <tim centricular net>
+ *
+ * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ * modify it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public
+ * License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+ * version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+ * Library General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public
+ * License along with this library; if not, write to the
+ * Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
+ * Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
+ */
+
+#include <gst/check/gstcheck.h>
+
+#include <gst/gst.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+GST_START_TEST (test_index_entries)
+{
+  GstIndexEntry *entry;
+  GstElement *pipe;
+  GstIndex *index;
+  gint id = -1;
+
+  pipe = gst_pipeline_new ("pipeline");
+
+  index = gst_index_new ();
+  fail_unless (gst_index_get_writer_id (index, GST_OBJECT (pipe), &id));
+
+  entry = gst_index_add_format (index, id, GST_FORMAT_BYTES);
+  gst_index_entry_free (entry);
+
+  gst_object_unref (index);
+  gst_object_unref (pipe);
+
+}
+
+GST_END_TEST;
+
+static Suite *
+gst_index_suite (void)
+{
+  Suite *s = suite_create ("GstIndex");
+  TCase *tc_chain = tcase_create ("general");
+
+  suite_add_tcase (s, tc_chain);
+  tcase_add_test (tc_chain, test_index_entries);
+
+  return s;
+}
+
+GST_CHECK_MAIN (gst_index);