diff --git a/src/decode.c b/src/decode.c
index c7c0b4ccd9..1aa964c5f1 100644
--- a/src/decode.c
+++ b/src/decode.c
@@ -475,6 +475,15 @@ DecodeThreadVars *DecodeThreadVarsAlloc(ThreadVars *tv)
     return dtv;
 }
 
+void DecodeThreadVarsFree(DecodeThreadVars *dtv)
+{
+    if (dtv != NULL) {
+        if (dtv->app_tctx != NULL)
+            AppLayerDestroyCtxThread(dtv->app_tctx);
+        SCFree(dtv);
+    }
+}
+
 /**
  * \brief Set data for Packet and set length when zeo copy is used
  *
diff --git a/src/decode.h b/src/decode.h
index 80458cb6d3..c373711228 100644
--- a/src/decode.h
+++ b/src/decode.h
@@ -808,6 +808,7 @@ int PacketCopyDataOffset(Packet *p, int offset, uint8_t *data, int datalen);
 const char *PktSrcToString(enum PktSrcEnum pkt_src);
 
 DecodeThreadVars *DecodeThreadVarsAlloc(ThreadVars *);
+void DecodeThreadVarsFree(DecodeThreadVars *);
 
 /* decoder functions */
 int DecodeEthernet(ThreadVars *, DecodeThreadVars *, Packet *, uint8_t *, uint16_t, PacketQueue *);