diff --git a/tools/perf/lib/evsel.c b/tools/perf/lib/evsel.c
index a8cb582e2721dc15258b5c518abee682618ffb6b..5a89857b0381ce23aaceb9ddd2f44647b8bfb2af 100644
--- a/tools/perf/lib/evsel.c
+++ b/tools/perf/lib/evsel.c
@@ -120,7 +120,8 @@ void perf_evsel__close_fd(struct perf_evsel *evsel)
 
 	for (cpu = 0; cpu < xyarray__max_x(evsel->fd); cpu++)
 		for (thread = 0; thread < xyarray__max_y(evsel->fd); ++thread) {
-			close(FD(evsel, cpu, thread));
+			if (FD(evsel, cpu, thread) >= 0)
+				close(FD(evsel, cpu, thread));
 			FD(evsel, cpu, thread) = -1;
 		}
 }
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evsel.c b/tools/perf/util/evsel.c
index d831038b55f2824bd66d165f9a4bb420b4e7aa52..d4451846af93ac75ac9cb85449d043f7e1e47033 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evsel.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evsel.c
@@ -1815,7 +1815,8 @@ out_close:
 	old_errno = errno;
 	do {
 		while (--thread >= 0) {
-			close(FD(evsel, cpu, thread));
+			if (FD(evsel, cpu, thread) >= 0)
+				close(FD(evsel, cpu, thread));
 			FD(evsel, cpu, thread) = -1;
 		}
 		thread = nthreads;