diff --git a/opal/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_component.c b/opal/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_component.c
index e2e0309464..5c6a35b7b0 100644
--- a/opal/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_component.c
+++ b/opal/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_component.c
@@ -265,6 +265,17 @@ static int btl_openib_component_close(void)
     opal_btl_openib_fd_finalize();
     opal_btl_openib_ini_finalize();
 
+    if (NULL != mca_btl_openib_component.receive_queues
+            && BTL_OPENIB_RQ_SOURCE_DEFAULT ==
+                            mca_btl_openib_component.receive_queues_source) {
+        /*
+         * In that case, the string has not been duplicated during variable
+         * registration. So it won't be freed by the mca_base_var system.
+         * Free it here.
+         */
+        free(mca_btl_openib_component.receive_queues);
+    }
+
     if (NULL != mca_btl_openib_component.default_recv_qps) {
         free(mca_btl_openib_component.default_recv_qps);
     }
diff --git a/opal/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_mca.c b/opal/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_mca.c
index 0550478b2a..bb6b08c388 100644
--- a/opal/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_mca.c
+++ b/opal/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_mca.c
@@ -661,12 +661,14 @@ int btl_openib_register_mca_params(void)
     mca_btl_openib_component.default_recv_qps = default_qps;
     CHECK(reg_string("receive_queues", NULL,
                      "Colon-delimited, comma-delimited list of receive queues: P,4096,8,6,4:P,32768,8,6,4",
-                     default_qps, &mca_btl_openib_component.receive_queues,
+                     NULL, &mca_btl_openib_component.receive_queues,
                      0));
-    mca_btl_openib_component.receive_queues_source =
-        (0 == strcmp(default_qps,
-                     mca_btl_openib_component.receive_queues)) ?
-        BTL_OPENIB_RQ_SOURCE_DEFAULT : BTL_OPENIB_RQ_SOURCE_MCA;
+    if (NULL == mca_btl_openib_component.receive_queues) {
+        mca_btl_openib_component.receive_queues = strdup(default_qps);
+        mca_btl_openib_component.receive_queues_source = BTL_OPENIB_RQ_SOURCE_DEFAULT;
+    } else {
+        mca_btl_openib_component.receive_queues_source = BTL_OPENIB_RQ_SOURCE_MCA;
+    }
 
     CHECK(reg_string("if_include", NULL,
                      "Comma-delimited list of devices/ports to be used (e.g. \"mthca0,mthca1:2\"; empty value means to use all ports found).  Mutually exclusive with btl_openib_if_exclude.",