diff --git a/rally/common/sshutils.py b/rally/common/sshutils.py
index 0c4eccd296..1056059753 100644
--- a/rally/common/sshutils.py
+++ b/rally/common/sshutils.py
@@ -271,9 +271,8 @@ class SSH(object):
 
         client = self._get_client()
 
-        sftp = client.open_sftp()
-        sftp.put(localpath, remotepath)
-        if mode is None:
-            mode = 0o777 & os.stat(localpath).st_mode
-        sftp.chmod(remotepath, mode)
-        sftp.close()
+        with client.open_sftp() as sftp:
+            sftp.put(localpath, remotepath)
+            if mode is None:
+                mode = 0o777 & os.stat(localpath).st_mode
+            sftp.chmod(remotepath, mode)
diff --git a/tests/unit/common/test_sshutils.py b/tests/unit/common/test_sshutils.py
index 27e230af0b..9fa4b4f43c 100644
--- a/tests/unit/common/test_sshutils.py
+++ b/tests/unit/common/test_sshutils.py
@@ -274,7 +274,8 @@ class SSHRunTestCase(test.TestCase):
 
     @mock.patch("rally.common.sshutils.os.stat")
     def test_put_file(self, mock_stat):
-        sftp = self.fake_client.open_sftp.return_value = mock.Mock()
+        sftp = self.fake_client.open_sftp.return_value = mock.MagicMock()
+        sftp.__enter__.return_value = sftp
 
         mock_stat.return_value = os.stat_result([0o753] + [0] * 9)
 
@@ -283,13 +284,14 @@ class SSHRunTestCase(test.TestCase):
         sftp.put.assert_called_once_with("localfile", "remotefile")
         mock_stat.assert_called_once_with("localfile")
         sftp.chmod.assert_called_once_with("remotefile", 0o753)
-        sftp.close.assert_called_once_with()
+        sftp.__exit__.assert_called_once_with(None, None, None)
 
     def test_put_file_mode(self):
-        sftp = self.fake_client.open_sftp.return_value = mock.Mock()
+        sftp = self.fake_client.open_sftp.return_value = mock.MagicMock()
+        sftp.__enter__.return_value = sftp
 
         self.ssh.put_file("localfile", "remotefile", mode=0o753)
 
         sftp.put.assert_called_once_with("localfile", "remotefile")
         sftp.chmod.assert_called_once_with("remotefile", 0o753)
-        sftp.close.assert_called_once_with()
+        sftp.__exit__.assert_called_once_with(None, None, None)