diff --git a/container/libcontainer/handler.go b/container/libcontainer/handler.go
index 7d8da59ddd..d4c872828b 100644
--- a/container/libcontainer/handler.go
+++ b/container/libcontainer/handler.go
@@ -704,6 +704,7 @@ func udpStatsFromProc(rootFs string, pid int, file string) (info.UdpStat, error)
 	if err != nil {
 		return udpStats, fmt.Errorf("failure opening %s: %v", udpStatsFile, err)
 	}
+	defer r.Close()
 
 	udpStats, err = scanUDPStats(r)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/container/libcontainer/handler_test.go b/container/libcontainer/handler_test.go
index d117a5a199..0b3b8eea57 100644
--- a/container/libcontainer/handler_test.go
+++ b/container/libcontainer/handler_test.go
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ func TestScanUDPStats(t *testing.T) {
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Errorf("failure opening %s: %v", udpStatsFile, err)
 	}
+	defer r.Close()
 
 	stats, err := scanUDPStats(r)
 	if err != nil {