diff --git a/cmd/podman/containers/cp.go b/cmd/podman/containers/cp.go
index faeb7bd96e..38abf799b6 100644
--- a/cmd/podman/containers/cp.go
+++ b/cmd/podman/containers/cp.go
@@ -386,6 +386,7 @@ func copyToContainer(container string, containerPath string, hostPath string) er
 
 		_, err = io.Copy(tmpFile, os.Stdin)
 		if err != nil {
+			_ = tmpFile.Close()
 			return err
 		}
 		if err = tmpFile.Close(); err != nil {