diff --git a/libs/libc/misc/lib_memfd.c b/libs/libc/misc/lib_memfd.c
index 98db24fa436..98046b753af 100644
--- a/libs/libc/misc/lib_memfd.c
+++ b/libs/libc/misc/lib_memfd.c
@@ -52,13 +52,24 @@ int memfd_create(FAR const char *name, unsigned int flags)
   return -1;
 #else
   char path[PATH_MAX];
+  int ret;
 
   snprintf(path, sizeof(path), LIBC_MEM_FD_VFS_PATH_FMT, name);
 #  ifdef CONFIG_LIBC_MEMFD_SHMFS
-  return shm_open(path, O_RDWR | flags, 0660);
+  ret = shm_open(path, O_RDWR | flags, 0660);
+  if (ret >= 0)
+    {
+      shm_unlink(path);
+    }
 #  else
   mkdir(LIBC_MEM_FD_VFS_PATH, 0666);
-  return open(path, O_RDWR | flags, 0660);
+  ret = open(path, O_RDWR | flags, 0660);
+  if (ret >= 0)
+    {
+      unlink(path);
+    }
 #  endif
+
+  return ret;
 #endif
 }