diff --git a/lightningd/lightningd.c b/lightningd/lightningd.c
index e97ea13d6..bbe66324c 100644
--- a/lightningd/lightningd.c
+++ b/lightningd/lightningd.c
@@ -997,7 +997,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	shutdown_subdaemons(ld);
 
 	/* Remove plugins. */
-	ld->plugins = tal_free(ld->plugins);
+	plugins_free(ld->plugins);
 
 	/* Clean up the JSON-RPC. This needs to happen in a DB transaction since
 	 * it might actually be touching the DB in some destructors, e.g.,
diff --git a/lightningd/plugin.c b/lightningd/plugin.c
index ddd37b214..97bc6c184 100644
--- a/lightningd/plugin.c
+++ b/lightningd/plugin.c
@@ -56,6 +56,19 @@ struct plugins *plugins_new(const tal_t *ctx, struct log_book *log_book,
 	return p;
 }
 
+void plugins_free(struct plugins *plugins)
+{
+	struct plugin *p;
+	/* Plugins are usually the unit of allocation, and they are internally
+	 * consistent, so let's free each plugin first. */
+	while (!list_empty(&plugins->plugins)) {
+		p = list_pop(&plugins->plugins, struct plugin, list);
+		tal_free(p);
+	}
+
+	tal_free(plugins);
+}
+
 static void destroy_plugin(struct plugin *p)
 {
 	struct plugin_rpccall *call;
diff --git a/lightningd/plugin.h b/lightningd/plugin.h
index a95eeb5c1..1a47232dd 100644
--- a/lightningd/plugin.h
+++ b/lightningd/plugin.h
@@ -137,6 +137,26 @@ void plugins_add_default_dir(struct plugins *plugins);
  */
 void plugins_init(struct plugins *plugins, const char *dev_plugin_debug);
 
+/**
+ * Free all resources that are held by plugins in the correct order.
+ *
+ * This function ensures that the resources dangling off of the plugins struct
+ * are freed in the correct order. This is necessary since the struct manages
+ * two orthogonal sets of resources:
+ *
+ *  - Plugins
+ *  - Hook calls and notifications
+ *
+ * The tal hierarchy is organized in a plugin centric way, i.e., the plugins
+ * may exit in an arbitrary order and they'll unregister pointers in the other
+ * resources. However this will fail if `tal_free` decides to free one of the
+ * non-plugin resources (technically a sibling in the allocation tree) before
+ * the plugins we will get a use-after-free. This function fixes this by
+ * freeing in the correct order without adding additional child-relationships
+ * in the allocation structure and without adding destructors.
+ */
+void plugins_free(struct plugins *plugins);
+
 /**
  * Register a plugin for initialization and execution.
  *
diff --git a/lightningd/test/run-find_my_abspath.c b/lightningd/test/run-find_my_abspath.c
index efe6fd415..78382bb54 100644
--- a/lightningd/test/run-find_my_abspath.c
+++ b/lightningd/test/run-find_my_abspath.c
@@ -190,6 +190,9 @@ void per_peer_state_set_fds_arr(struct per_peer_state *pps UNNEEDED, const int *
 /* Generated stub for plugins_config */
 void plugins_config(struct plugins *plugins UNNEEDED)
 { fprintf(stderr, "plugins_config called!\n"); abort(); }
+/* Generated stub for plugins_free */
+void plugins_free(struct plugins *plugins UNNEEDED)
+{ fprintf(stderr, "plugins_free called!\n"); abort(); }
 /* Generated stub for plugins_init */
 void plugins_init(struct plugins *plugins UNNEEDED, const char *dev_plugin_debug UNNEEDED)
 { fprintf(stderr, "plugins_init called!\n"); abort(); }