diff --git a/src/api/environment.cc b/src/api/environment.cc
index 55b895c235f51e..cc3edb87feb6ba 100644
--- a/src/api/environment.cc
+++ b/src/api/environment.cc
@@ -141,8 +141,12 @@ void* DebuggingArrayBufferAllocator::Reallocate(void* data,
   Mutex::ScopedLock lock(mutex_);
   void* ret = NodeArrayBufferAllocator::Reallocate(data, old_size, size);
   if (ret == nullptr) {
-    if (size == 0)  // i.e. equivalent to free().
+    if (size == 0) {  // i.e. equivalent to free().
+      // suppress coverity warning as data is used as key versus as pointer
+      // in UnregisterPointerInternal
+      // coverity[pass_freed_arg]
       UnregisterPointerInternal(data, old_size);
+    }
     return nullptr;
   }