diff --git a/repos/ports/src/lib/libc_noux/plugin.cc b/repos/ports/src/lib/libc_noux/plugin.cc
index d0cf513dd..72e0971d1 100644
--- a/repos/ports/src/lib/libc_noux/plugin.cc
+++ b/repos/ports/src/lib/libc_noux/plugin.cc
@@ -1242,8 +1242,10 @@ namespace {
 		Libc::Plugin_context *context = noux_context(sysio()->open_out.fd);
 		Libc::File_descriptor *fd =
 		    Libc::file_descriptor_allocator()->alloc(this, context, sysio()->open_out.fd);
-		if ((flags & O_TRUNC) && (ftruncate(fd, 0) == -1))
+		if ((flags & O_TRUNC) && (ftruncate(fd, 0) == -1)) {
+			Plugin::close(fd);
 			return 0;
+		}
 		return fd;
 	}