diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 91d978a6..c78da546 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 - `tear_down_after_script` runs when `set_up_before_script` fails, so it can release file-scoped resources acquired before the failure (#1318)
 - Under `--parallel`, `tear_down_after_script` runs after the file's own tests instead of alongside them, so a fixture it releases stays alive for the tests that read it. The same file no longer passed sequentially and failed in parallel (#1320)
 - `--stop-on-failure` runs `tear_down_after_script` for the file it halts in, so a sequential run releases what `set_up_before_script` acquired before the halt (#1321)
+- `bashunit bench` runs `tear_down_after_script` before it aborts on a malformed annotation, so the file releases what `set_up_before_script` acquired (#1322)
 
 ## [0.50.0](https://github.com/TypedDevs/bashunit/compare/0.49.0...0.50.0) - 2026-08-18
 
diff --git a/src/runner/bench.sh b/src/runner/bench.sh
index 8bc3ba07..cb008ea3 100644
--- a/src/runner/bench.sh
+++ b/src/runner/bench.sh
@@ -82,10 +82,18 @@ function bashunit::runner::load_bench_files() {
       continue
     fi
     bashunit::runner::call_bench_functions "$bench_file" "$filter"
+    local bench_status=$?
     bashunit::runner::run_tear_down_after_script "$bench_file"
     bashunit::runner::clean_set_up_and_tear_down_after_script
     bashunit::cleanup_script_temp_files
     bashunit::runner::restore_workdir
+    # A malformed annotation still aborts the whole run, as it has to: a value
+    # the runner cannot honour would otherwise measure something other than what
+    # the annotation asked for (#884). It aborts from here rather than from
+    # inside call_bench_functions so the file's teardown runs first (#1322).
+    if [ "$bench_status" -ne 0 ]; then
+      exit "$bench_status"
+    fi
   done
 }
 
@@ -121,7 +129,7 @@ function bashunit::runner::call_bench_functions() {
     # Capture separately so a malformed annotation aborts the run: the exit
     # status of a $(...) inside `read <<<` is otherwise discarded (#884).
     local parsed_annotations
-    parsed_annotations=$(bashunit::benchmark::parse_annotations "$fn_name" "$script") || exit 1
+    parsed_annotations=$(bashunit::benchmark::parse_annotations "$fn_name" "$script") || return 1
     read -r revs its max_ms <<<"$parsed_annotations"
     bashunit::benchmark::run_function "$fn_name" "$revs" "$its" "$max_ms" "$script"
     unset -v fn_name
diff --git a/tests/acceptance/bashunit_bench_test.sh b/tests/acceptance/bashunit_bench_test.sh
index 452f1f25..7efa656e 100644
--- a/tests/acceptance/bashunit_bench_test.sh
+++ b/tests/acceptance/bashunit_bench_test.sh
@@ -108,6 +108,34 @@ function test_bench_cleans_up_when_set_up_before_script_fails() {
   assert_file_not_exists "$marker"
 }
 
+# A malformed annotation aborts the run from inside call_bench_functions, which
+# used to skip the file's teardown along with everything else (#1322).
+function test_bench_cleans_up_when_an_annotation_is_malformed() {
+  local dir fixture marker
+  dir="$(bashunit::temp_dir bench_annotation_cleanup)"
+  fixture="$dir/bad_annotation_bench.sh"
+  marker="$dir/resource"
+  {
+    printf 'RESOURCE=""\n'
+    printf 'function set_up_before_script() {\n'
+    printf '  RESOURCE="$CLEANUP_MARKER"\n'
+    printf '  : >"$RESOURCE"\n'
+    printf '}\n'
+    printf 'function tear_down_after_script() {\n'
+    printf '  rm -f "$RESOURCE"\n'
+    printf '}\n'
+    printf '# @revs=abc\n'
+    printf 'function bench_bad_annotation() { :; }\n'
+  } >"$fixture"
+
+  local exit_code=0 output
+  output=$(CLEANUP_MARKER="$marker" ./bashunit bench "$fixture" 2>&1) || exit_code=$?
+
+  assert_general_error "" "" "$exit_code"
+  assert_contains "@revs in '# @revs=abc' is not a valid value" "$(printf "%s" "$output" | strip_ansi)"
+  assert_file_not_exists "$marker"
+}
+
 function test_bench_fails_when_a_file_cannot_be_sourced() {
   local dir
   dir="$(bashunit::temp_dir bench_source_fail)"