diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/compaction/CompactionController.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/compaction/CompactionController.java
index ef4497cc6e..a5dbed2891 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/compaction/CompactionController.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/compaction/CompactionController.java
@@ -275,10 +275,11 @@ public class CompactionController extends AbstractCompactionController
         {
             if (memtable.getMinTimestamp() != Memtable.NO_MIN_TIMESTAMP)
             {
-                if (memtable.rowIterator(key) != null)
-                {
-                    minTimestampSeen = Math.min(minTimestampSeen, memtable.getMinTimestamp());
-                    hasTimestamp = true;
+                try (UnfilteredRowIterator iterator = memtable.rowIterator(key)) {
+                    if (iterator != null) {
+                        minTimestampSeen = Math.min(minTimestampSeen, memtable.getMinTimestamp());
+                        hasTimestamp = true;
+                    }
                 }
             }
         }
diff --git a/test/simulator/main/org/apache/cassandra/simulator/paxos/Ballots.java b/test/simulator/main/org/apache/cassandra/simulator/paxos/Ballots.java
index 90cc76a475..645cdcc3cc 100644
--- a/test/simulator/main/org/apache/cassandra/simulator/paxos/Ballots.java
+++ b/test/simulator/main/org/apache/cassandra/simulator/paxos/Ballots.java
@@ -196,10 +196,11 @@ public class Ballots
     private static Row getRow(DecoratedKey key, TableMetadata metadata, ColumnFamilyStore paxos, Memtable memtable)
     {
         final ClusteringComparator comparator = paxos.metadata.get().comparator;
-        UnfilteredRowIterator iter = memtable.rowIterator(key, Slices.with(comparator, Slice.make(comparator.make(metadata.id))), ColumnFilter.NONE, false, SSTableReadsListener.NOOP_LISTENER);
-        if (iter == null || !iter.hasNext())
-            return null;
-        return (Row) iter.next();
+        try (UnfilteredRowIterator iter = memtable.rowIterator(key, Slices.with(comparator, Slice.make(comparator.make(metadata.id))), ColumnFilter.NONE, false, SSTableReadsListener.NOOP_LISTENER)) {
+            if (iter == null || !iter.hasNext())
+                return null;
+            return (Row) iter.next();
+        }
     }
 
     public static long latestBallotFromBaseTable(DecoratedKey key, TableMetadata metadata)