diff --git a/commit.c b/commit.c
index 26ce0770f6..b44e3be8f6 100644
--- a/commit.c
+++ b/commit.c
@@ -365,8 +365,8 @@ struct object_id *get_commit_tree_oid(const struct commit *commit)
 void release_commit_memory(struct parsed_object_pool *pool, struct commit *c)
 {
 	set_commit_tree(c, NULL);
-	c->index = 0;
 	free_commit_buffer(pool, c);
+	c->index = 0;
 	free_commit_list(c->parents);
 
 	c->object.parsed = 0;