diff --git a/reftable/block.c b/reftable/block.c
index ad9074dba6121e..c469a9b529f47f 100644
--- a/reftable/block.c
+++ b/reftable/block.c
@@ -301,7 +301,7 @@ static int restart_key_less(size_t idx, void *args)
 
 	result = strbuf_cmp(&a->key, &rkey);
 	strbuf_release(&rkey);
-	return result;
+	return result < 0;
 }
 
 void block_iter_copy_from(struct block_iter *dest, struct block_iter *src)
diff --git a/reftable/record.c b/reftable/record.c
index 367de046006b25..2e2061d0823174 100644
--- a/reftable/record.c
+++ b/reftable/record.c
@@ -588,6 +588,8 @@ static int reftable_obj_record_decode(void *rec, struct strbuf key,
 	uint64_t last;
 	int j;
 
+	reftable_obj_record_release(r);
+
 	REFTABLE_ALLOC_ARRAY(r->hash_prefix, key.len);
 	memcpy(r->hash_prefix, key.buf, key.len);
 	r->hash_prefix_len = key.len;