diff --git a/services/net/java/android/net/netlink/NetlinkSocket.java b/services/net/java/android/net/netlink/NetlinkSocket.java
index 5af3c299bfc15..cfcba3a84f513 100644
--- a/services/net/java/android/net/netlink/NetlinkSocket.java
+++ b/services/net/java/android/net/netlink/NetlinkSocket.java
@@ -59,10 +59,9 @@ public class NetlinkSocket {
         final String errPrefix = "Error in NetlinkSocket.sendOneShotKernelMessage";
         final long IO_TIMEOUT = 300L;
 
-        FileDescriptor fd;
+        final FileDescriptor fd = forProto(nlProto);
 
         try {
-            fd = forProto(nlProto);
             connectToKernel(fd);
             sendMessage(fd, msg, 0, msg.length, IO_TIMEOUT);
             final ByteBuffer bytes = recvMessage(fd, DEFAULT_RECV_BUFSIZE, IO_TIMEOUT);
@@ -96,9 +95,9 @@ public class NetlinkSocket {
         } catch (SocketException e) {
             Log.e(TAG, errPrefix, e);
             throw new ErrnoException(errPrefix, EIO, e);
+        } finally {
+            IoUtils.closeQuietly(fd);
         }
-
-        IoUtils.closeQuietly(fd);
     }
 
     public static FileDescriptor forProto(int nlProto) throws ErrnoException {