diff --git a/src/util-device.c b/src/util-device.c
index cc38bbd76fe3..b624cf07342b 100644
--- a/src/util-device.c
+++ b/src/util-device.c
@@ -316,6 +316,10 @@ int LiveDeviceListClean(void)
     SCEnter();
     LiveDevice *pd, *tpd;
 
+    /* dpdk: need to close all devices before freeing them. */
+    TAILQ_FOREACH (pd, &live_devices, next) {
+        DPDKCloseDevice(pd);
+    }
     TAILQ_FOREACH_SAFE(pd, &live_devices, next, tpd) {
         if (live_devices_stats) {
             SCLogNotice("%s: packets: %" PRIu64 ", drops: %" PRIu64
@@ -328,7 +332,7 @@ int LiveDeviceListClean(void)
         }
 
         RestoreIfaceOffloading(pd);
-        DPDKCloseDevice(pd);
+        DPDKFreeDevice(pd);
 
         if (pd->dev)
             SCFree(pd->dev);
diff --git a/src/util-dpdk.c b/src/util-dpdk.c
index 462b4b8cb7d1..c9c1d73d0314 100644
--- a/src/util-dpdk.c
+++ b/src/util-dpdk.c
@@ -40,10 +40,9 @@ void DPDKCloseDevice(LiveDevice *ldev)
 {
     (void)ldev; // avoid warnings of unused variable
 #ifdef HAVE_DPDK
-    uint16_t port_id;
-    int retval;
     if (run_mode == RUNMODE_DPDK) {
-        retval = rte_eth_dev_get_port_by_name(ldev->dev, &port_id);
+        uint16_t port_id;
+        int retval = rte_eth_dev_get_port_by_name(ldev->dev, &port_id);
         if (retval < 0) {
             SCLogError("%s: failed get port id, error: %s", ldev->dev, rte_strerror(-retval));
             return;
@@ -51,7 +50,15 @@ void DPDKCloseDevice(LiveDevice *ldev)
 
         SCLogPerf("%s: closing device", ldev->dev);
         rte_eth_dev_close(port_id);
+    }
+#endif
+}
 
+void DPDKFreeDevice(LiveDevice *ldev)
+{
+    (void)ldev; // avoid warnings of unused variable
+#ifdef HAVE_DPDK
+    if (run_mode == RUNMODE_DPDK) {
         SCLogDebug("%s: releasing packet mempool", ldev->dev);
         rte_mempool_free(ldev->dpdk_vars.pkt_mp);
     }
diff --git a/src/util-dpdk.h b/src/util-dpdk.h
index f6a54a8323e4..1fb3532f5d4d 100644
--- a/src/util-dpdk.h
+++ b/src/util-dpdk.h
@@ -120,6 +120,7 @@
 void DPDKCleanupEAL(void);
 
 void DPDKCloseDevice(LiveDevice *ldev);
+void DPDKFreeDevice(LiveDevice *ldev);
 
 #ifdef HAVE_DPDK
 const char *DPDKGetPortNameByPortID(uint16_t pid);