diff --git a/Lib/test/test_fileio.py b/Lib/test/test_fileio.py
index fa305da42a2..e9281e33fa2 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_fileio.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_fileio.py
@@ -342,6 +342,7 @@ class OtherFileTests(unittest.TestCase):
         f.truncate(15)
         self.assertEqual(f.tell(), 5)
         self.assertEqual(f.seek(0, os.SEEK_END), 15)
+        f.close()
 
     def testTruncateOnWindows(self):
         def bug801631():
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index a1b5246f7fc..ce29e40d1c7 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -143,6 +143,9 @@ C-API
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #10253: FileIO leaks a file descriptor when trying to open a file
+  for append that isn't seekable.  Patch by Brian Brazil.
+
 - Issue #5027: The standard ``xml`` namespace is now understood by
   xml.sax.saxutils.XMLGenerator as being bound to
   http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace.  Patch by Troy J. Farrell.
diff --git a/Modules/_io/fileio.c b/Modules/_io/fileio.c
index f332ee46333..a365c9fe46c 100644
--- a/Modules/_io/fileio.c
+++ b/Modules/_io/fileio.c
@@ -364,8 +364,13 @@ fileio_init(PyObject *oself, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwds)
            end of file (otherwise, it might be done only on the
            first write()). */
         PyObject *pos = portable_lseek(self->fd, NULL, 2);
-        if (pos == NULL)
+        if (pos == NULL) {
+            if (closefd) {
+                close(self->fd);
+                self->fd = -1;
+            }
             goto error;
+        }
         Py_DECREF(pos);
     }