diff --git a/.gitlab-ci/crosvm-runner.sh b/.gitlab-ci/crosvm-runner.sh
index b735565b790..15e6655e92f 100755
--- a/.gitlab-ci/crosvm-runner.sh
+++ b/.gitlab-ci/crosvm-runner.sh
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ VM_SOCKET=crosvm-${THREAD}.sock
 # was terminated due to timeouts.  This "vm stop" may fail if the crosvm died
 # without cleaning itself up.
 if [ -e $VM_SOCKET ]; then
-   crosvm stop $VM_SOCKET || true
+   crosvm stop $VM_SOCKET || rm -rf $VM_SOCKET
    # Wait for socats from that invocation to drain
    sleep 5
 fi