diff --git a/src/torcontrol.cpp b/src/torcontrol.cpp
--- a/src/torcontrol.cpp
+++ b/src/torcontrol.cpp
@@ -427,7 +427,10 @@
     while ((n = fread(buffer, 1, sizeof(buffer), f)) > 0) {
         // Check for reading errors so we don't return any data if we couldn't
         // read the entire file (or up to maxsize)
-        if (ferror(f)) return std::make_pair(false, "");
+        if (ferror(f)) {
+            fclose(f);
+            return std::make_pair(false, "");
+        }
         retval.append(buffer, buffer + n);
         if (retval.size() > maxsize) {
             break;