diff --git a/lib/client-handshake.c b/lib/client-handshake.c
index 2e51bb4d..e25c368c 100644
--- a/lib/client-handshake.c
+++ b/lib/client-handshake.c
@@ -434,8 +434,10 @@ libwebsocket_client_connect_extended(struct libwebsocket_context *context,
 			ssl_connection, path, host, origin, protocol,
 						     ietf_version_or_minus_one);
 
-	if (ws && !ws->user_space && userdata)
+	if (ws && !ws->user_space && userdata) {
+		ws->user_space_externally_allocated = 1;
 		ws->user_space = userdata ;
+	}
 
 	return ws ;
 }
diff --git a/lib/libwebsockets.c b/lib/libwebsockets.c
index 2975f38e..e0525a54 100644
--- a/lib/libwebsockets.c
+++ b/lib/libwebsockets.c
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ just_kill_connection:
 			LWS_CALLBACK_WSI_DESTROY, wsi->user_space, NULL, 0);
 
 	if (wsi->protocol && wsi->protocol->per_session_data_size &&
-					wsi->user_space) /* user code may own */
+	    wsi->user_space && !wsi->user_space_externally_allocated)
 		free(wsi->user_space);
 
 	free(wsi);
diff --git a/lib/private-libwebsockets.h b/lib/private-libwebsockets.h
index cd2f1200..6fae8898 100755
--- a/lib/private-libwebsockets.h
+++ b/lib/private-libwebsockets.h
@@ -581,6 +581,7 @@ struct libwebsocket {
 	char rx_frame_type; /* enum libwebsocket_write_protocol */
 
 	unsigned int hdr_parsing_completed:1;
+	unsigned int user_space_externally_allocated:1;
 
 	char pending_timeout; /* enum pending_timeout */
 	time_t pending_timeout_limit;