diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 9a538caee..a3d67111c 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ Emulation fixes:
  - GBA Video: Improve emulation of window start/end conditions (fixes mgba.io/i/1945)
 Other fixes:
  - Core: Fix inconsistencies with setting game-specific overrides (fixes mgba.io/i/2963)
+ - Core: Fix patch autoloading leaking the file handle
  - Debugger: Fix writing to specific segment in command-line debugger
  - GB: Fix uninitialized save data when loading undersized temporary saves
  - GB, GBA Core: Fix memory leak if reloading debug symbols
diff --git a/src/core/core.c b/src/core/core.c
index 789656ea4..ba7ef914c 100644
--- a/src/core/core.c
+++ b/src/core/core.c
@@ -239,9 +239,22 @@ bool mCoreAutoloadPatch(struct mCore* core) {
 	if (!core->dirs.patch) {
 		return false;
 	}
-	return core->loadPatch(core, mDirectorySetOpenSuffix(&core->dirs, core->dirs.patch, ".ups", O_RDONLY)) ||
-	       core->loadPatch(core, mDirectorySetOpenSuffix(&core->dirs, core->dirs.patch, ".ips", O_RDONLY)) ||
-	       core->loadPatch(core, mDirectorySetOpenSuffix(&core->dirs, core->dirs.patch, ".bps", O_RDONLY));
+	struct VFile* vf = NULL;
+	if (!vf) {
+		vf = mDirectorySetOpenSuffix(&core->dirs, core->dirs.patch, ".bps", O_RDONLY);
+	}
+	if (!vf) {
+		vf = mDirectorySetOpenSuffix(&core->dirs, core->dirs.patch, ".ups", O_RDONLY);
+	}
+	if (!vf) {
+		vf = mDirectorySetOpenSuffix(&core->dirs, core->dirs.patch, ".ips", O_RDONLY);
+	}
+	if (!vf) {
+		return false;
+	}
+	bool result = core->loadPatch(core, vf);
+	vf->close(vf);
+	return result;
 }
 
 bool mCoreAutoloadCheats(struct mCore* core) {