diff --git a/src/network/netdev/wireguard.c b/src/network/netdev/wireguard.c
index 757446aeec..bff778179c 100644
--- a/src/network/netdev/wireguard.c
+++ b/src/network/netdev/wireguard.c
@@ -573,7 +573,7 @@ int config_parse_wireguard_preshared_key(
                 void *data,
                 void *userdata) {
 
-        _cleanup_(wireguard_peer_free_or_set_invalidp) WireguardPeer *peer = NULL;
+        WireguardPeer *peer;
         Wireguard *w;
         int r;
 
@@ -585,12 +585,7 @@ int config_parse_wireguard_preshared_key(
         if (r < 0)
                 return r;
 
-        r = wireguard_decode_key_and_warn(rvalue, peer->preshared_key, unit, filename, line, lvalue);
-        if (r < 0)
-                return r;
-
-        TAKE_PTR(peer);
-        return 0;
+        return wireguard_decode_key_and_warn(rvalue, peer->preshared_key, unit, filename, line, lvalue);
 }
 
 int config_parse_wireguard_preshared_key_file(
@@ -759,10 +754,6 @@ int config_parse_wireguard_endpoint(
         w = WIREGUARD(data);
         assert(w);
 
-        r = wireguard_peer_new_static(w, filename, section_line, &peer);
-        if (r < 0)
-                return r;
-
         if (rvalue[0] == '[') {
                 begin = &rvalue[1];
                 end = strchr(rvalue, ']');
@@ -794,6 +785,10 @@ int config_parse_wireguard_endpoint(
                 ++end;
         }
 
+        r = wireguard_peer_new_static(w, filename, section_line, &peer);
+        if (r < 0)
+                return r;
+
         r = free_and_strndup(&peer->endpoint_host, begin, len);
         if (r < 0)
                 return log_oom();
@@ -805,7 +800,7 @@ int config_parse_wireguard_endpoint(
         r = set_ensure_put(&w->peers_with_unresolved_endpoint, NULL, peer);
         if (r < 0)
                 return log_oom();
-        TAKE_PTR(peer);
+        TAKE_PTR(peer); /* The peer may already have been in the hash map, that is fine too. */
 
         return 0;
 }
@@ -822,7 +817,7 @@ int config_parse_wireguard_keepalive(
                 void *data,
                 void *userdata) {
 
-        _cleanup_(wireguard_peer_free_or_set_invalidp) WireguardPeer *peer = NULL;
+        WireguardPeer *peer;
         uint16_t keepalive = 0;
         Wireguard *w;
         int r;
@@ -843,15 +838,13 @@ int config_parse_wireguard_keepalive(
                 r = safe_atou16(rvalue, &keepalive);
                 if (r < 0) {
                         log_syntax(unit, LOG_ERR, filename, line, r,
-                                   "The persistent keepalive interval must be 0-65535. Ignore assignment: %s",
+                                   "Failed to parse \"%s\" as keepalive interval (range 0–65535), ignoring assignment: %m",
                                    rvalue);
                         return 0;
                 }
         }
 
         peer->persistent_keepalive_interval = keepalive;
-
-        TAKE_PTR(peer);
         return 0;
 }