diff --git a/cmd/geth/dbcmd.go b/cmd/geth/dbcmd.go
index 408d0e3777..1087bc6447 100644
--- a/cmd/geth/dbcmd.go
+++ b/cmd/geth/dbcmd.go
@@ -409,6 +409,7 @@ func checkStateContent(ctx *cli.Context) error {
 		startTime = time.Now()
 		lastLog   = time.Now()
 	)
+	defer it.Release()
 	for it.Next() {
 		count++
 		k := it.Key()