diff --git a/src/nwfilter/nwfilter_ebiptables_driver.c b/src/nwfilter/nwfilter_ebiptables_driver.c
index 63bcbd7402..ae21906122 100644
--- a/src/nwfilter/nwfilter_ebiptables_driver.c
+++ b/src/nwfilter/nwfilter_ebiptables_driver.c
@@ -2245,7 +2245,8 @@ ebiptablesWriteToTempFile(const char *string) {
 
 err_exit:
     VIR_FREE(header);
-    close(fd);
+    if (fd >= 0)
+        close(fd);
     unlink(filename);
     return NULL;
 }