diff --git a/extensions-core/multi-stage-query/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/msq/querykit/scan/ScanQueryFrameProcessor.java b/extensions-core/multi-stage-query/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/msq/querykit/scan/ScanQueryFrameProcessor.java
index e5fa0a03d621..dbcd271cccfb 100644
--- a/extensions-core/multi-stage-query/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/msq/querykit/scan/ScanQueryFrameProcessor.java
+++ b/extensions-core/multi-stage-query/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/msq/querykit/scan/ScanQueryFrameProcessor.java
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ public class ScanQueryFrameProcessor extends BaseLeafFrameProcessor
   private final Closer closer = Closer.create();
 
   private Cursor cursor;
+  private Closeable cursorCloser;
   private Segment segment;
   private final SimpleSettableOffset cursorOffset = new SimpleAscendingOffset(Integer.MAX_VALUE);
   private FrameWriter frameWriter;
@@ -156,6 +157,7 @@ public ReturnOrAwait<Object> runIncrementally(final IntSet readableInputs) throw
   @Override
   public void cleanup() throws IOException
   {
+    closer.register(cursorCloser);
     closer.register(frameWriter);
     closer.register(super::cleanup);
     closer.close();
@@ -221,7 +223,7 @@ protected ReturnOrAwait<SegmentsInputSlice> runWithDataServerQuery(final DataSer
         cursorYielder.close();
         return ReturnOrAwait.returnObject(handedOffSegments);
       } else {
-        final long rowsFlushed = setNextCursor(cursorYielder.get(), null);
+        final long rowsFlushed = setNextCursor(cursorYielder.get(), null, null);
         closer.register(cursorYielder);
         if (rowsFlushed > 0) {
           return ReturnOrAwait.runAgain();
@@ -256,16 +258,16 @@ protected ReturnOrAwait<Unit> runWithSegment(final SegmentWithDescriptor segment
         );
       }
 
-      final CursorHolder cursorHolder = closer.register(
-          cursorFactory.makeCursorHolder(ScanQueryEngine.makeCursorBuildSpec(query, null))
-      );
-      final Cursor nextCursor = cursorHolder.asCursor();
+      final CursorHolder nextCursorHolder =
+          cursorFactory.makeCursorHolder(ScanQueryEngine.makeCursorBuildSpec(query, null));
+      final Cursor nextCursor = nextCursorHolder.asCursor();
 
       if (nextCursor == null) {
         // No cursors!
+        nextCursorHolder.close();
         return ReturnOrAwait.returnObject(Unit.instance());
       } else {
-        final long rowsFlushed = setNextCursor(nextCursor, segmentHolder.get().getSegment());
+        final long rowsFlushed = setNextCursor(nextCursor, nextCursorHolder, segmentHolder.get().getSegment());
         assert rowsFlushed == 0; // There's only ever one cursor when running with a segment
       }
     }
@@ -302,16 +304,16 @@ protected ReturnOrAwait<Unit> runWithInputChannel(
           );
         }
 
-        final CursorHolder cursorHolder = closer.register(
-            cursorFactory.makeCursorHolder(ScanQueryEngine.makeCursorBuildSpec(query, null))
-        );
-        final Cursor nextCursor = cursorHolder.asCursor();
+        final CursorHolder nextCursorHolder =
+            cursorFactory.makeCursorHolder(ScanQueryEngine.makeCursorBuildSpec(query, null));
+        final Cursor nextCursor = nextCursorHolder.asCursor();
 
         if (nextCursor == null) {
           // no cursor
+          nextCursorHolder.close();
           return ReturnOrAwait.returnObject(Unit.instance());
         }
-        final long rowsFlushed = setNextCursor(nextCursor, frameSegment);
+        final long rowsFlushed = setNextCursor(nextCursor, nextCursorHolder, frameSegment);
 
         if (rowsFlushed > 0) {
           return ReturnOrAwait.runAgain();
@@ -415,10 +417,20 @@ private long flushFrameWriter() throws IOException
     }
   }
 
-  private long setNextCursor(final Cursor cursor, final Segment segment) throws IOException
+  private long setNextCursor(
+      final Cursor cursor,
+      @Nullable final Closeable cursorCloser,
+      final Segment segment
+  ) throws IOException
   {
     final long rowsFlushed = flushFrameWriter();
+    if (this.cursorCloser != null) {
+      // Close here, don't add to the processor-level Closer, to avoid leaking CursorHolders. We may generate many
+      // CursorHolders per instance of this processor, and we need to close them as we go, not all at the end.
+      this.cursorCloser.close();
+    }
     this.cursor = cursor;
+    this.cursorCloser = cursorCloser;
     this.segment = segment;
     this.cursorOffset.reset();
     return rowsFlushed;