diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 767edf50a..a70370f13 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ Changes that could break older environments:
 Fixed bugs:
 -----------
 
+ * <fixcrlf> now tries earlier to delete the created temporary files.
+   Bugzilla Report 48506.
+
 Other changes:
 --------------
 
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/FixCRLF.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/FixCRLF.java
index 65d1fa538..70e2f4d21 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/FixCRLF.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/FixCRLF.java
@@ -376,10 +376,13 @@ public class FixCRLF extends MatchingTask implements ChainableReader {
                         Project.MSG_DEBUG);
                     FILE_UTILS.setFileLastModified(destFile, lastModified);
                 }
-                tmpFile = null;
             }
         } catch (IOException e) {
             throw new BuildException("error running fixcrlf on file " + srcFile, e);
+        } finally {
+            if (tmpFile != null && tmpFile.exists()) {
+                FILE_UTILS.tryHardToDelete(tmpFile);
+            }
         }
     }