diff --git a/jOOQ-codegen-maven/src/main/java/org/jooq/codegen/maven/Plugin.java b/jOOQ-codegen-maven/src/main/java/org/jooq/codegen/maven/Plugin.java
index d1807a2ab5..5beb9d27b3 100644
--- a/jOOQ-codegen-maven/src/main/java/org/jooq/codegen/maven/Plugin.java
+++ b/jOOQ-codegen-maven/src/main/java/org/jooq/codegen/maven/Plugin.java
@@ -169,9 +169,10 @@ public class Plugin extends AbstractMojo {
 
         ClassLoader oldCL = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
 
+        // [#2886] Add the surrounding project's dependencies to the current classloader
+        URLClassLoader pluginClassLoader = getClassLoader();
         try {
-            // [#2886] Add the surrounding project's dependencies to the current classloader
-            Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(getClassLoader());
+            Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(pluginClassLoader);
 
             // [#5881] Target is allowed to be null
             if (generator.getTarget() == null)
@@ -201,12 +202,18 @@ public class Plugin extends AbstractMojo {
         // [#2886] Restore old class loader
         finally {
             Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(oldCL);
+            try {
+                pluginClassLoader.close();
+            }
+            catch (Throwable e) { // catch all possible errors to avoid suppressing the original exception
+                getLog().error("Couldn't close the classloader.", e);
+            }
         }
 
         project.addCompileSourceRoot(generator.getTarget().getDirectory());
     }
 
-    private ClassLoader getClassLoader() throws MojoExecutionException {
+    private URLClassLoader getClassLoader() throws MojoExecutionException {
         try {
             List<String> classpathElements = project.getRuntimeClasspathElements();
             URL urls[] = new URL[classpathElements.size()];