diff --git a/run-command.c b/run-command.c
index eb5c57562909c1e505c2a7688bad6dbeea4b96a0..c7793f50fbe0a43495c2b2d36a47c0b5aac37483 100644
--- a/run-command.c
+++ b/run-command.c
@@ -383,6 +383,8 @@ int start_command(struct child_process *cmd)
 			close(cmd->out);
 		if (need_err)
 			close_pair(fderr);
+		else if (cmd->err)
+			close(cmd->err);
 		errno = failed_errno;
 		return -1;
 	}
diff --git a/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh b/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh
index 2de98e6561607b87bceef66c20ad9055d04878c3..6a37a4d993df3fa4958a719fdfdb82f0dd2de623 100755
--- a/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh
+++ b/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh
@@ -528,7 +528,7 @@ test_expect_success 'push does not update local refs on failure' '
 	mk_test heads/master &&
 	mk_child child &&
 	mkdir testrepo/.git/hooks &&
-	echo exit 1 >testrepo/.git/hooks/pre-receive &&
+	echo "#!/no/frobnication/today" >testrepo/.git/hooks/pre-receive &&
 	chmod +x testrepo/.git/hooks/pre-receive &&
 	(cd child &&
 		git pull .. master