diff --git a/lib/open.cc b/lib/open.cc
index 6fa00a84..ba32c2f1 100644
--- a/lib/open.cc
+++ b/lib/open.cc
@@ -871,6 +871,13 @@ notmuch_database_load_config (const char *database_path,
     if (status_string)
 	*status_string = message;
 
+    if (status &&
+	status != NOTMUCH_STATUS_NO_DATABASE
+	&& status != NOTMUCH_STATUS_NO_CONFIG) {
+	notmuch_database_destroy (notmuch);
+	notmuch = NULL;
+    }
+
     if (database)
 	*database = notmuch;
 
diff --git a/test/T590-libconfig.sh b/test/T590-libconfig.sh
index b4abbd78..8db51ed0 100755
--- a/test/T590-libconfig.sh
+++ b/test/T590-libconfig.sh
@@ -942,7 +942,6 @@ EOF
 test_expect_equal_file EXPECTED OUTPUT
 
 test_begin_subtest "load_config: database set to NULL on fatal error"
-test_subtest_known_broken
 cat c_head3 - c_tail3 <<'EOF' | test_C
   notmuch_status_t st = notmuch_database_load_config("relative", NULL, NULL, &db, NULL);
 EOF