diff --git a/src/proxy.c b/src/proxy.c
index 0bac0898f..3e126378f 100644
--- a/src/proxy.c
+++ b/src/proxy.c
@@ -1517,6 +1517,7 @@ void proxy_free_defaults(struct proxy *defproxy)
 
 	ha_free(&defproxy->id);
 	ha_free(&defproxy->conf.file);
+	ha_free((char **)&defproxy->defsrv.conf.file);
 	ha_free(&defproxy->check_command);
 	ha_free(&defproxy->check_path);
 	ha_free(&defproxy->cookie_name);
diff --git a/src/server.c b/src/server.c
index 138d69272..78c3b532d 100644
--- a/src/server.c
+++ b/src/server.c
@@ -3292,7 +3292,8 @@ int parse_server(const char *file, int linenum, char **args,
 	if (err_code & ERR_CODE)
 		goto out;
 
-	newsrv->conf.file = strdup(file);
+	if (!newsrv->conf.file) // note: do it only once for default-server
+		newsrv->conf.file = strdup(file);
 	newsrv->conf.line = linenum;
 
 	while (*args[cur_arg]) {