diff --git a/libnm/nm-secret-agent-old.c b/libnm/nm-secret-agent-old.c
index 7dec0557f..6df54d433 100644
--- a/libnm/nm-secret-agent-old.c
+++ b/libnm/nm-secret-agent-old.c
@@ -301,8 +301,9 @@ get_secrets_cb (NMSecretAgentOld *self,
 	if (error)
 		g_dbus_method_invocation_return_gerror (info->context, error);
 	else {
+		g_variant_take_ref (secrets);
 		g_dbus_method_invocation_return_value (info->context,
-		                                       g_variant_new ("(a{sa{sv}})", secrets));
+		                                       g_variant_new ("(@a{sa{sv}})", secrets));
 	}
 
 	/* Remove the request from internal tracking */