diff --git a/src/util-io.h b/src/util-io.h
index 21d5d81..0ea7d63 100644
--- a/src/util-io.h
+++ b/src/util-io.h
@@ -223,7 +223,8 @@ xconnect(const char *path)
 	if (!xsnprintf(addr.sun_path, sizeof(addr.sun_path), "%s", path))
 		return -EINVAL;
 
-	int sockfd = xerrno(SYSCALL(socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM | SOCK_NONBLOCK, 0)));
+	_cleanup_close_ int sockfd =
+		xerrno(SYSCALL(socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM | SOCK_NONBLOCK, 0)));
 	if (sockfd < 0)
 		return sockfd;
 
@@ -231,7 +232,7 @@ xconnect(const char *path)
 	if (rc < 0)
 		return rc;
 
-	return sockfd;
+	return steal_fd(&sockfd);
 }
 
 /**