diff --git a/src/image.zig b/src/image.zig
index b9202ef..ef27b7a 100644
--- a/src/image.zig
+++ b/src/image.zig
@@ -95,12 +95,16 @@ pub fn temporaryName(allocator: *std.mem.Allocator) ![]u8 {
         }
 
         // if we fail to access it, we assume it doesn't exist and return it.
-
-        _ = std.fs.cwd().openFile(nam, .{ .read = true, .write = false }) catch |err| {
-            if (err == error.FileNotFound) {
-                return nam;
-            }
+        var tmp_file: std.fs.File = std.fs.cwd().openFile(
+            nam,
+            .{ .read = true, .write = false },
+        ) catch |err| blk: {
+            if (err == error.FileNotFound) return nam else continue;
         };
+
+        // if we actually found someone, close the handle so that we don't
+        // get EMFILE later on.
+        tmp_file.close();
     }
 
     return error.TempGenFail;