diff --git a/repair/row_level.cc b/repair/row_level.cc
index 2d26c27b60..44f831f487 100644
--- a/repair/row_level.cc
+++ b/repair/row_level.cc
@@ -499,6 +499,12 @@ public:
       });
     }
 
+    future<> close() noexcept {
+      return _reader.close().then([this] {
+        _reader_handle.reset();
+      });
+    }
+
     lw_shared_ptr<const decorated_key_with_hash>& get_current_dk() {
         return _current_dk;
     }
@@ -873,8 +879,11 @@ public:
         auto f1 = _sink_source_for_get_full_row_hashes.close();
         auto f2 = _sink_source_for_get_row_diff.close();
         auto f3 = _sink_source_for_put_row_diff.close();
+        rlogger.info("repair_meta::stop");
         return when_all_succeed(std::move(gate_future), std::move(f1), std::move(f2), std::move(f3)).discard_result().finally([this] {
-            return _repair_writer->wait_for_writer_done();
+            return _repair_writer->wait_for_writer_done().finally([this] {
+                return close();
+            });
         });
     }
 
@@ -1066,6 +1075,10 @@ public:
         return std::pair<std::optional<repair_sync_boundary>, bool>(sync_boundary_min, already_synced);
     }
 
+    future<> close() noexcept {
+        return _repair_reader.close();
+    }
+
 private:
     future<uint64_t> do_estimate_partitions_on_all_shards() {
         return estimate_partitions(_db, _schema->ks_name(), _schema->cf_name(), _range);
@@ -2817,6 +2830,11 @@ public:
                     _all_live_peer_nodes,
                     _all_live_peer_nodes.size(),
                     this);
+            auto auto_close_master = defer([&master] {
+                master.close().handle_exception([] (std::exception_ptr ep) {
+                    rlogger.warn("Failed auto-closing Row Level Repair (Master): {}. Ignored.", ep);
+                }).get();
+            });
 
             rlogger.debug(">>> Started Row Level Repair (Master): local={}, peers={}, repair_meta_id={}, keyspace={}, cf={}, schema_version={}, range={}, seed={}, max_row_buf_size={}",
                     master.myip(), _all_live_peer_nodes, master.repair_meta_id(), _ri.keyspace, _cf_name, schema_version, _range, _seed, max_row_buf_size);