diff --git a/native/dispatch.c b/native/dispatch.c
index 345a7c2ad8..e2047315e7 100644
--- a/native/dispatch.c
+++ b/native/dispatch.c
@@ -3525,8 +3525,14 @@ Java_com_sun_jna_Native_ffi_1prep_1closure(JNIEnv *env, jclass UNUSED(cls), jlon
   }
 
   cb->object = (*env)->NewWeakGlobalRef(env, obj);
+  if (cb->object == NULL) {
+    // either obj was null or an OutOfMemoryError has been thrown
+    free(cb);
+    return 0;
+  }
   cb->closure = ffi_closure_alloc(sizeof(ffi_closure), L2A(&cb->x_closure));
   if (cb->closure == NULL) {
+    (*env)->DeleteWeakGlobalRef(env, cb->object);
     free(cb);
     throwByName(env, EUnsupportedOperation, "Failed to allocate closure");
     return 0;
@@ -3536,6 +3542,7 @@ Java_com_sun_jna_Native_ffi_1prep_1closure(JNIEnv *env, jclass UNUSED(cls), jlon
                            cb, cb->x_closure);
   if (ffi_error(env, "ffi_prep_cif", s)) {
     ffi_closure_free(cb->closure);
+    (*env)->DeleteWeakGlobalRef(env, cb->object);
     free(cb);
     return 0;
   }