diff --git a/src/vt/serialization/messaging/serialized_messenger.impl.h b/src/vt/serialization/messaging/serialized_messenger.impl.h
index 250cb4657a..5cd8a56cc6 100644
--- a/src/vt/serialization/messaging/serialized_messenger.impl.h
+++ b/src/vt/serialization/messaging/serialized_messenger.impl.h
@@ -423,6 +423,8 @@ template <typename MsgT, typename BaseT>
         auto msg_data = ptr;
         auto user_msg = deserializeFullMessage<MsgT>(msg_data);
 
+        std::free(msg_data);
+
         vt_debug_print(
           verbose, serial_msg,
           "serialMsgHandler: local msg: handler={}\n", typed_handler
diff --git a/tests/unit/serialization/test_serialize_messenger.cc b/tests/unit/serialization/test_serialize_messenger.cc
index c66bff5a1d..df85d7b801 100644
--- a/tests/unit/serialization/test_serialize_messenger.cc
+++ b/tests/unit/serialization/test_serialize_messenger.cc
@@ -98,6 +98,15 @@ static void myDataMsgHan(MyDataMsg* msg) {
   msg->check();
 }
 
+static void myDataHan(std::vector<int> const& vec) {
+  int i = 0;
+  EXPECT_EQ(vec.size(), 100ull);
+  for (auto&& x : vec) {
+    EXPECT_EQ(x, i);
+    i++;
+  }
+}
+
 struct TestSerialMessenger : TestParallelHarness {
   using TestMsg = TestStaticBytesShortMsg<4>;
 };
@@ -115,6 +124,15 @@ TEST_F(TestSerialMessenger, test_serial_messenger_1) {
   }
 }
 
+TEST_F(TestSerialMessenger, test_serial_messenger_2) {
+  auto const& this_node = theContext()->getNode();
+  std::vector<int> vec;
+  for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
+    vec.push_back(i);
+  }
+  theMsg()->send<&myDataHan>(vt::Node(this_node), vec);
+}
+
 TEST_F(TestSerialMessenger, test_serial_messenger_bcast_1) {
   auto const& my_node = theContext()->getNode();