diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 6f1bee2b..3a1dfb38 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ SVN
   sensord: Fix rrd support (#2276)
            Use the same colors for daily and weekly charts
            Drop workaround needed by old versions of rrdtool
+  sensors: Fix error path on library initialization error
   sensors.conf.eg: Fix voltage value references (g520sm, lm80, pc87366)
   sensors-detect: Drop PCA9540 detection
                   Improve sysconfig and modprobe.d integration
diff --git a/prog/sensors/main.c b/prog/sensors/main.c
index 54bfbe59..00d318a8 100644
--- a/prog/sensors/main.c
+++ b/prog/sensors/main.c
@@ -105,7 +105,8 @@ static int read_config_file(const char *config_file_name)
 	err = sensors_init(config_file);
 	if (err) {
 		fprintf(stderr, "sensors_init: %s\n", sensors_strerror(err));
-		fclose(config_file);
+		if (config_file)
+			fclose(config_file);
 		return 1;
 	}