diff --git a/include/cutils/config_utils.h b/include/cutils/config_utils.h
index f3fb370..2dea6f1 100644
--- a/include/cutils/config_utils.h
+++ b/include/cutils/config_utils.h
@@ -54,6 +54,9 @@
 /* add a named child to a config node (or modify it if it already exists) */
 void config_set(cnode *root, const char *name, const char *value);
 
+/* free a config node tree */
+void config_free(cnode *root);
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif
diff --git a/libcutils/config_utils.c b/libcutils/config_utils.c
index 75fa6c6..fc5ca78 100644
--- a/libcutils/config_utils.c
+++ b/libcutils/config_utils.c
@@ -315,3 +315,15 @@
     data = load_file(fn, 0);
     config_load(root, data);
 }
+
+void config_free(cnode *root)
+{
+    cnode *cur = root->first_child;
+
+    while (cur) {
+        cnode *prev = cur;
+        config_free(cur);
+        cur = cur->next;
+        free(prev);
+    }
+}