diff a/src/hotspot/share/oops/instanceKlass.cpp b/src/hotspot/share/oops/instanceKlass.cpp
--- a/src/hotspot/share/oops/instanceKlass.cpp
+++ b/src/hotspot/share/oops/instanceKlass.cpp
@@ -2544,11 +2544,11 @@
   // Decrement symbol reference counts associated with the unloaded class.
   if (_name != NULL) _name->decrement_refcount();
   // unreference array name derived from this class name (arrays of an unloaded
   // class can't be referenced anymore).
   if (_array_name != NULL)  _array_name->decrement_refcount();
-  if (_source_debug_extension != NULL) FREE_C_HEAP_ARRAY(char, _source_debug_extension);
+  FREE_C_HEAP_ARRAY(char, _source_debug_extension);
 }
 
 void InstanceKlass::set_source_debug_extension(const char* array, int length) {
   if (array == NULL) {
     _source_debug_extension = NULL;