diff --git a/src/config_format/flb_cf_fluentbit.c b/src/config_format/flb_cf_fluentbit.c
index 1ac967cbfd5..6114ff6f0f4 100644
--- a/src/config_format/flb_cf_fluentbit.c
+++ b/src/config_format/flb_cf_fluentbit.c
@@ -736,6 +736,7 @@ static int read_config(struct flb_cf *cf, struct local_ctx *ctx,
 
     if (f) {
         fclose(f);
+        f = NULL;
     }
 
     if (indent) {