diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchQueryThenFetchAsyncAction.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchQueryThenFetchAsyncAction.java
index 25f436113baf3..4022772406372 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchQueryThenFetchAsyncAction.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchQueryThenFetchAsyncAction.java
@@ -869,6 +869,8 @@ void onShardDone() {
             var channelListener = new ChannelActionListener<>(channel);
             RecyclerBytesStreamOutput out = dependencies.transportService.newNetworkBytesStream();
             out.setTransportVersion(channel.getVersion());
+
+            boolean success = false;
             try (queryPhaseResultConsumer) {
                 Exception reductionFailure = queryPhaseResultConsumer.failure.get();
                 if (reductionFailure == null) {
@@ -876,11 +878,17 @@ void onShardDone() {
                 } else {
                     writeReductionFailureResponse(out, reductionFailure);
                 }
+                success = true;
             } catch (IOException e) {
                 releaseAllResultsContexts();
                 channelListener.onFailure(e);
                 return;
+            } finally {
+                if (success == false) {
+                    out.close();
+                }
             }
+
             ActionListener.respondAndRelease(
                 channelListener,
                 new BytesTransportResponse(out.moveToBytesReference(), out.getTransportVersion())