diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/internal/PMDTaskImpl.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/internal/PMDTaskImpl.java
index e5bd978549..0c91f74439 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/internal/PMDTaskImpl.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/ant/internal/PMDTaskImpl.java
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
  */
 package net.sourceforge.pmd.ant.internal;
 
+import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.PrintWriter;
@@ -14,6 +15,14 @@ import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
 import java.util.logging.Handler;
 import java.util.logging.Level;
 
+import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.AntClassLoader;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildException;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.DirectoryScanner;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.Project;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.types.FileSet;
+import org.apache.tools.ant.types.Path;
+
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.PMD;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.PMDConfiguration;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.Report;
@@ -37,14 +46,6 @@ import net.sourceforge.pmd.util.datasource.FileDataSource;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.util.log.AntLogHandler;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.util.log.ScopedLogHandlersManager;
 
-import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
-import org.apache.tools.ant.AntClassLoader;
-import org.apache.tools.ant.BuildException;
-import org.apache.tools.ant.DirectoryScanner;
-import org.apache.tools.ant.Project;
-import org.apache.tools.ant.types.FileSet;
-import org.apache.tools.ant.types.Path;
-
 public class PMDTaskImpl {
 
     private Path classpath;
@@ -267,6 +268,13 @@ public class PMDTaskImpl {
             doTask();
         } finally {
             logManager.close();
+            tryCloseClassLoader(configuration.getClassLoader());
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void tryCloseClassLoader(ClassLoader classLoader) {
+        if (classLoader instanceof Closeable) {
+            IOUtils.closeQuietly((Closeable)classLoader);
         }
     }