diff --git a/src/hotspot/share/prims/whitebox.cpp b/src/hotspot/share/prims/whitebox.cpp
index ec9ef2102c4d6..403da9e1d0342 100644
--- a/src/hotspot/share/prims/whitebox.cpp
+++ b/src/hotspot/share/prims/whitebox.cpp
@@ -824,10 +824,9 @@ static bool is_excluded_for_compiler(AbstractCompiler* comp, methodHandle& mh) {
     return true;
   }
   DirectiveSet* directive = DirectivesStack::getMatchingDirective(mh, comp);
-  if (directive->ExcludeOption) {
-    return true;
-  }
-  return false;
+  bool exclude = directive->ExcludeOption;
+  DirectivesStack::release(directive);
+  return exclude;
 }
 
 static bool can_be_compiled_at_level(methodHandle& mh, jboolean is_osr, int level) {