diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/cached_discovery.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/cached_discovery.go
index 4465fa2b04e..c9498cfb7a1 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/cached_discovery.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/util/cached_discovery.go
@@ -141,6 +141,7 @@ func (d *CachedDiscoveryClient) getCachedFile(filename string) ([]byte, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+	defer file.Close()
 
 	fileInfo, err := file.Stat()
 	if err != nil {