diff --git a/src/network/core/os_abstraction.cpp b/src/network/core/os_abstraction.cpp
index 2e60100400267..b2d3475d01994 100644
--- a/src/network/core/os_abstraction.cpp
+++ b/src/network/core/os_abstraction.cpp
@@ -78,14 +78,14 @@ bool NetworkError::IsConnectInProgress() const
  */
 const char *NetworkError::AsString() const
 {
-	if (this->message.get() == nullptr) {
+	if (this->message.empty()) {
 #if defined(_WIN32)
 		char buffer[512];
 		if (FormatMessageA(FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM | FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS, NULL, this->error,
 			MAKELANGID(LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_DEFAULT), buffer, sizeof(buffer), NULL) == 0) {
 			seprintf(buffer, lastof(buffer), "Unknown error %d", this->error);
 		}
-		this->message.reset(new std::string(buffer));
+		this->message.assign(buffer);
 #else
 		/* Make strerror thread safe by locking access to it. There is a thread safe strerror_r, however
 		 * the non-POSIX variant is available due to defining _GNU_SOURCE meaning it is not portable.
@@ -94,10 +94,10 @@ const char *NetworkError::AsString() const
 		 * variant always fills the buffer. This makes the behaviour too erratic to work with. */
 		static std::mutex mutex;
 		std::lock_guard<std::mutex> guard(mutex);
-		this->message.reset(new std::string(strerror(this->error)));
+		this->message.assign(strerror(this->error));
 #endif
 	}
-	return this->message.get()->c_str();
+	return this->message.c_str();
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/network/core/os_abstraction.h b/src/network/core/os_abstraction.h
index bedaf94569c2f..55d733501758f 100644
--- a/src/network/core/os_abstraction.h
+++ b/src/network/core/os_abstraction.h
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@
  */
 class NetworkError {
 private:
-	int error;                                    ///< The underlying error number from errno or WSAGetLastError.
-	mutable std::unique_ptr<std::string> message; ///< The string representation of the error.
+	int error;                   ///< The underlying error number from errno or WSAGetLastError.
+	mutable std::string message; ///< The string representation of the error (set on first call to #AsString).
 public:
 	NetworkError(int error);