diff --git a/src/cmd/covdata/covdata.go b/src/cmd/covdata/covdata.go
index 95bc30d25d..549efea20a 100644
--- a/src/cmd/covdata/covdata.go
+++ b/src/cmd/covdata/covdata.go
@@ -176,7 +176,12 @@ func main() {
 		if err := pprof.StartCPUProfile(f); err != nil {
 			fatal("%v", err)
 		}
-		atExit(pprof.StopCPUProfile)
+		atExit(func() {
+			pprof.StopCPUProfile()
+			if err = f.Close(); err != nil {
+				fatal("error closing cpu profile: %v", err)
+			}
+		})
 	}
 	if *memprofileflag != "" {
 		if *memprofilerateflag != 0 {
@@ -192,6 +197,9 @@ func main() {
 			if err := pprof.Lookup("heap").WriteTo(f, writeLegacyFormat); err != nil {
 				fatal("%v", err)
 			}
+			if err = f.Close(); err != nil {
+				fatal("error closing memory profile: %v", err)
+			}
 		})
 	} else {
 		// Not doing memory profiling; disable it entirely.