diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HStore.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HStore.java
index 2ccc8a01645..01121dd80e8 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HStore.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/HStore.java
@@ -2283,6 +2283,7 @@ public class HStore implements Store, HeapSize, StoreConfigInformation, Propagat
       long snapshotId = -1; // -1 means do not drop
       if (dropMemstoreSnapshot && snapshot != null) {
         snapshotId = snapshot.getId();
+        snapshot.close();
       }
       HStore.this.updateStorefiles(storeFiles, snapshotId);
     }
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/MemStoreSnapshot.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/MemStoreSnapshot.java
index 0d4e5f15dbb..1a0317d9cbf 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/MemStoreSnapshot.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/MemStoreSnapshot.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver;
 
 import org.apache.yetus.audience.InterfaceAudience;
 
+import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.util.List;
 /**
  * Holds details of the snapshot taken on a MemStore. Details include the snapshot's identifier,
@@ -26,7 +27,7 @@ import java.util.List;
  * all the cells and a scanner to read all cells in it.
  */
 @InterfaceAudience.Private
-public class MemStoreSnapshot {
+public class MemStoreSnapshot implements Closeable {
   private final long id;
   private final int cellsCount;
   private final long dataSize;
@@ -90,4 +91,13 @@ public class MemStoreSnapshot {
   public boolean isTagsPresent() {
     return this.tagsPresent;
   }
+
+  @Override
+  public void close() {
+    if (this.scanners != null) {
+      for (KeyValueScanner scanner : scanners) {
+        scanner.close();
+      }
+    }
+  }
 }