diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index c8eb609cc2a6..dfbe477384bb 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@ PHP                                                                        NEWS
 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 ?? ??? ????, PHP 8.4.27
 
+- CLI:
+  . Fixed bug GH-23764 (Built-in server leaks a file descriptor on every HEAD
+    request for a static file). (Jakub Skopal)
+
 - DOM:
   . Fixed use-after-free when re-constructing a DOMXPath whose php:function
     registrations are freed while still reachable from the cycle collector.
diff --git a/sapi/cli/php_cli_server.c b/sapi/cli/php_cli_server.c
index 36187aaeb035..5a3abb4ded9d 100644
--- a/sapi/cli/php_cli_server.c
+++ b/sapi/cli/php_cli_server.c
@@ -2185,6 +2185,9 @@ static zend_result php_cli_server_begin_send_static(php_cli_server *server, php_
 	client->content_sender_initialized = true;
 	if (client->request.request_method != PHP_HTTP_HEAD) {
 		client->file_fd = fd;
+	} else {
+		/* Content-Length comes from the stat, the body is never sent. */
+		close(fd);
 	}
 
 	{