FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
java version "1.8.0_101"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_101-b13)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.101-b13, mixed mode)

ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Linux hostname-redacted 3.10.0-327.13.1.el7.x86_64 #1 SMP Thu Mar 31 16:04:38 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
The forms of SAXParser.parse that accept a File don't close it when a parsing exception occurs.


REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileWriter;
import java.lang.management.ManagementFactory;

import javax.management.MBeanServer;
import javax.management.ObjectName;
import javax.xml.parsers.SAXParser;
import javax.xml.parsers.SAXParserFactory;

import org.xml.sax.helpers.DefaultHandler;

public class Show
{

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
    {
        MBeanServer mbs = ManagementFactory.getPlatformMBeanServer();
        tryParsing(true);
        tryParsing(false);
        System.out.printf("At launch there are %d open descriptors\n", openFds(mbs));

        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
        {
            tryParsing(true);
            System.out.printf("After parsing valid XML there are %d open descriptors\n", openFds(mbs));
            tryParsing(false);
            System.out.printf("After parsing invalid XML there are %d open descriptors\n", openFds(mbs));
        }
    }

    private static void tryParsing(boolean valid) throws Exception
    {
        SAXParserFactory factory = SAXParserFactory.newInstance();
        SAXParser parser = factory.newSAXParser();

        File temp = new File("/tmp/test.xml");
        try (FileWriter w = new FileWriter(temp))
        {
            w.write(valid ? "<validxml/>" : "invalidxml");
        }

        try
        {
            parser.parse(temp, new DefaultHandler());
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            // discard
        }
    }

    private static Long openFds(MBeanServer mbs) throws Exception
    {
        ObjectName os = new ObjectName("java.lang:type=OperatingSystem");
        return (Long) mbs.getAttribute(os, "OpenFileDescriptorCount");
    }

}
---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
Use a try-with-resources to open the file and pass an InputSource wrapping a FileInputStream.