diff --git a/clients/common/nm-meta-setting-desc.c b/clients/common/nm-meta-setting-desc.c
index 506c2dfed..408fc9917 100644
--- a/clients/common/nm-meta-setting-desc.c
+++ b/clients/common/nm-meta-setting-desc.c
@@ -1701,11 +1701,12 @@ nmc_util_is_domain (const char *domain)
 }
 
 static gboolean
-nmc_property_set_byte_array (NMSetting *setting, const char *prop, const char *value, GError **error)
+nmc_property_set_bytes (NMSetting *setting, const char *prop, const char *value, GError **error)
 {
-	char **strv = NULL, **iter;
-	char *val_strip;
+	gs_free char *val_strip = NULL;
+	gs_strfreev char **strv = NULL;
 	const char *delimiters = " \t,";
+	char **iter;
 	long int val_int;
 	GBytes *bytes;
 	GByteArray *array = NULL;
@@ -1717,30 +1718,33 @@ nmc_property_set_byte_array (NMSetting *setting, const char *prop, const char *v
 
 	/* First try hex string in the format of AAbbCCDd */
 	bytes = nm_utils_hexstr2bin (val_strip);
-	if (bytes) {
-		array = g_bytes_unref_to_array (bytes);
+	if (bytes)
 		goto done;
-	}
 
 	/* Otherwise, consider the following format: AA b 0xCc D */
 	strv = nmc_strsplit_set (val_strip, delimiters, 0);
 	array = g_byte_array_sized_new (g_strv_length (strv));
 	for (iter = strv; iter && *iter; iter++) {
+		guint8 v8;
+
 		if (!nmc_string_to_int_base (g_strstrip (*iter), 16, TRUE, 0, 255, &val_int)) {
 			g_set_error (error, 1, 0, _("'%s' is not a valid hex character"), *iter);
+			g_byte_array_free (array, TRUE);
 			success = FALSE;
 			goto done;
 		}
-		g_byte_array_append (array, (const guint8 *) &val_int, 1);
+		v8 = val_int;
+		g_byte_array_append (array, &v8, 1);
 	}
+	bytes = g_byte_array_free_to_bytes (array);
 
 done:
 	if (success)
-		g_object_set (setting, prop, array, NULL);
+		g_object_set (setting, prop, bytes, NULL);
+
+	if (bytes)
+		g_bytes_unref (bytes);
 
-	g_strfreev (strv);
-	if (array)
-		g_byte_array_free (array, TRUE);
 	return success;
 }
 
@@ -2076,7 +2080,7 @@ DEFINE_SETTER_PRIV_KEY (_set_fcn_802_1x_phase2_private_key,
 static gboolean
 _set_fcn_802_1x_password_raw (ARGS_SET_FCN)
 {
-	return nmc_property_set_byte_array (setting, property_info->property_name, value, error);
+	return nmc_property_set_bytes (setting, property_info->property_name, value, error);
 }
 
 static gconstpointer