diff --git a/libavutil/hwcontext_dxva2.c b/libavutil/hwcontext_dxva2.c
index 4ed0d56aea..6c41788e2e 100644
--- a/libavutil/hwcontext_dxva2.c
+++ b/libavutil/hwcontext_dxva2.c
@@ -121,6 +121,13 @@ static void dxva2_frames_uninit(AVHWFramesContext *ctx)
     }
 }
 
+static void dxva2_pool_release_dummy(void *opaque, uint8_t *data)
+{
+    // important not to free anything here--data is a surface object
+    // associated with the call to CreateSurface(), and these surfaces are
+    // released in dxva2_frames_uninit()
+}
+
 static AVBufferRef *dxva2_pool_alloc(void *opaque, int size)
 {
     AVHWFramesContext      *ctx = (AVHWFramesContext*)opaque;
@@ -130,7 +137,7 @@ static AVBufferRef *dxva2_pool_alloc(void *opaque, int size)
     if (s->nb_surfaces_used < hwctx->nb_surfaces) {
         s->nb_surfaces_used++;
         return av_buffer_create((uint8_t*)s->surfaces_internal[s->nb_surfaces_used - 1],
-                                sizeof(*hwctx->surfaces), NULL, 0, 0);
+                                sizeof(*hwctx->surfaces), dxva2_pool_release_dummy, 0, 0);
     }
 
     return NULL;