diff --git a/WINGs/proplist.c b/WINGs/proplist.c
index 3203303d..54099991 100644
--- a/WINGs/proplist.c
+++ b/WINGs/proplist.c
@@ -1695,6 +1695,7 @@ Bool WMWritePropListToFile(WMPropList * plist, const char *path)
 	if (fprintf(theFile, "%s\n", desc) != strlen(desc) + 1) {
 		werror(_("writing to file: %s failed"), thePath);
 		wfree(desc);
+		fclose(theFile);
 		goto failure;
 	}