diff --git a/src/replication.c b/src/replication.c
index e49c76788..236b4a1f4 100644
--- a/src/replication.c
+++ b/src/replication.c
@@ -3332,7 +3332,6 @@ error:
  * establish a connection with the primary. */
 void syncWithPrimary(connection *conn) {
     char tmpfile[256], *err = NULL;
-    int dfd = -1, maxtries = 5;
     int psync_result;
 
     /* If this event fired after the user turned the instance into a primary
@@ -3601,6 +3600,7 @@ void syncWithPrimary(connection *conn) {
 
     /* Prepare a suitable temp file for bulk transfer */
     if (!useDisklessLoad()) {
+        int dfd = -1, maxtries = 5;
         while (maxtries--) {
             snprintf(tmpfile, 256, "temp-%d.%ld.rdb", (int)server.unixtime, (long int)getpid());
             dfd = open(tmpfile, O_CREAT | O_WRONLY | O_EXCL, 0644);
@@ -3657,7 +3657,6 @@ no_response_error: /* Handle receiveSynchronousResponse() error when primary has
     /* Fall through to regular error handling */
 
 error:
-    if (dfd != -1) close(dfd);
     connClose(conn);
     server.repl_transfer_s = NULL;
     if (server.repl_rdb_transfer_s) {