diff --git a/streams/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/processor/internals/StreamTaskTest.java b/streams/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/processor/internals/StreamTaskTest.java
index 39d654832bf..848cd4f0bf8 100644
--- a/streams/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/processor/internals/StreamTaskTest.java
+++ b/streams/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/processor/internals/StreamTaskTest.java
@@ -983,6 +983,7 @@ public class StreamTaskTest {
         } catch (final TaskMigratedException expected) {
             assertTrue(expected.getCause() instanceof ProducerFencedException);
         }
+        task = null;
 
         assertFalse(producer.transactionCommitted());
     }