diff --git a/be/src/exec/grouping-aggregator-partition.cc b/be/src/exec/grouping-aggregator-partition.cc
index 8fe08f4..8be932d 100644
--- a/be/src/exec/grouping-aggregator-partition.cc
+++ b/be/src/exec/grouping-aggregator-partition.cc
@@ -89,7 +89,12 @@
       1L << (32 - NUM_PARTITIONING_BITS), PAGG_DEFAULT_HASH_TABLE_SZ));
   // Please update the error message in CreateHashPartitions() if initial size of
   // hash table changes.
-  return hash_tbl->Init(got_memory);
+  Status status = hash_tbl->Init(got_memory);
+  if (!status.ok() || !(*got_memory)) {
+    hash_tbl->Close();
+    hash_tbl.reset();
+  }
+  return status;
 }
 
 Status GroupingAggregator::Partition::SerializeStreamForSpilling() {
diff --git a/be/src/exec/grouping-aggregator.h b/be/src/exec/grouping-aggregator.h
index 405d4ab..258ed6e 100644
--- a/be/src/exec/grouping-aggregator.h
+++ b/be/src/exec/grouping-aggregator.h
@@ -346,6 +346,8 @@
 
     /// Initializes the hash table. 'aggregated_row_stream' must be non-NULL.
     /// Sets 'got_memory' to true if the hash table was initialised or false on OOM.
+    /// After returning, 'hash_tbl' will be non-null iff 'got_memory' is true and the
+    /// returned status is OK.
     Status InitHashTable(bool* got_memory) WARN_UNUSED_RESULT;
 
     /// Called in case we need to serialize aggregated rows. This step effectively does