diff --git a/criu/filesystems.c b/criu/filesystems.c
index d76b182918..fc53f4e5d8 100644
--- a/criu/filesystems.c
+++ b/criu/filesystems.c
@@ -656,7 +656,6 @@ static int dump_empty_fs(struct mount_info *pm)
 		return fd;
 
 	ret = is_empty_dir(fd);
-	close(fd);
 	if (ret < 0) {
 		pr_err("%s isn't empty\n", pm->fstype->name);
 		return -1;
diff --git a/criu/util.c b/criu/util.c
index a88da8d037..c610da7b3a 100644
--- a/criu/util.c
+++ b/criu/util.c
@@ -709,6 +709,10 @@ int is_root_user(void)
 	return 1;
 }
 
+/*
+ * is_empty_dir will always close the FD dirfd: either implicitly
+ * via closedir or explicitly in case fdopendir had failed
+ */
 int is_empty_dir(int dirfd)
 {
 	int ret = 0;
@@ -716,8 +720,10 @@ int is_empty_dir(int dirfd)
 	struct dirent *de;
 
 	fdir = fdopendir(dirfd);
-	if (!fdir)
+	if (!fdir) {
+		close_safe(&dirfd);
 		return -1;
+	}
 
 	while ((de = readdir(fdir))) {
 		if (dir_dots(de))