diff --git a/qemu-sockets.c b/qemu-sockets.c
index 183a9cbbd2..61b2247077 100644
--- a/qemu-sockets.c
+++ b/qemu-sockets.c
@@ -572,6 +572,7 @@ int unix_connect_opts(QemuOpts *opts)
     snprintf(un.sun_path, sizeof(un.sun_path), "%s", path);
     if (connect(sock, (struct sockaddr*) &un, sizeof(un)) < 0) {
         fprintf(stderr, "connect(unix:%s): %s\n", path, strerror(errno));
+        close(sock);
 	return -1;
     }