diff --git a/phoenix-core-server/src/main/java/org/apache/phoenix/replication/reader/ReplicationLogProcessor.java b/phoenix-core-server/src/main/java/org/apache/phoenix/replication/reader/ReplicationLogProcessor.java
index 84d4f1ba428..e6b488f8f69 100644
--- a/phoenix-core-server/src/main/java/org/apache/phoenix/replication/reader/ReplicationLogProcessor.java
+++ b/phoenix-core-server/src/main/java/org/apache/phoenix/replication/reader/ReplicationLogProcessor.java
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ public void processLogFile(FileSystem fs, Path filePath) throws IOException {
 
       if (!logFileReaderOptional.isPresent()) {
         // This is an empty file, assume processed successfully and return
-        LOG.warn("Found empty file to process {}", filePath);
+        LOG.info("Ignoring zero length replication log file {}", filePath);
         return;
       }
 
@@ -303,32 +303,31 @@ protected Optional<LogFileReader> createLogFileReader(FileSystem fs, Path filePa
     LogFileReader logFileReader = new LogFileReader();
     LogFileReaderContext logFileReaderContext =
       new LogFileReaderContext(conf).setFileSystem(fs).setFilePath(filePath);
-    boolean isClosed = isFileClosed(fs, filePath);
-    if (isClosed) {
-      // As file is closed, ensure that the file has a valid header and trailer
-      logFileReader.init(logFileReaderContext);
-      return Optional.of(logFileReader);
-    } else {
-      LOG.warn("Found un-closed file {}. Starting lease recovery.", filePath);
+    try {
+      // Ensure to recover lease first, in case file was un-closed. If it was already closed,
+      // recoverLease would return true immediately.
       recoverLease(fs, filePath);
-      if (fs.getFileStatus(filePath).getLen() <= 0) {
-        // Found empty file, returning null LogReader
+      if (fs.getFileStatus(filePath).getLen() > 0) {
+        try {
+          // Acquired the lease, try to create reader with validation both header and trailer
+          logFileReader.init(logFileReaderContext);
+          return Optional.of(logFileReader);
+        } catch (InvalidLogTrailerException invalidLogTrailerException) {
+          // If trailer is missing or corrupt, create reader without trailer validation
+          LOG.warn("Invalid Trailer for file {}", filePath, invalidLogTrailerException);
+          logFileReaderContext.setValidateTrailer(false);
+          logFileReader.init(logFileReaderContext);
+          return Optional.of(logFileReader);
+        }
+      } else {
+        // Ignore the file and returning empty LogReader.
         return Optional.empty();
       }
-      try {
-        // Acquired the lease, try to create reader with validation both header and trailer
-        logFileReader.init(logFileReaderContext);
-        return Optional.of(logFileReader);
-      } catch (InvalidLogTrailerException invalidLogTrailerException) {
-        // If trailer is missing or corrupt, create reader without trailer validation
-        LOG.warn("Invalid Trailer for file {}", filePath, invalidLogTrailerException);
-        logFileReaderContext.setValidateTrailer(false);
-        logFileReader.init(logFileReaderContext);
-        return Optional.of(logFileReader);
-      } catch (IOException exception) {
-        LOG.error("Failed to initialize new LogFileReader for path {}", filePath, exception);
-        throw exception;
-      }
+    } catch (IOException exception) {
+      LOG.error("Failed to initialize new LogFileReader for path {}", filePath, exception);
+      // close the reader to avoid leaking socket connection
+      closeReader(logFileReader);
+      throw exception;
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/phoenix-core/src/it/java/org/apache/phoenix/replication/reader/ReplicationLogProcessorTestIT.java b/phoenix-core/src/it/java/org/apache/phoenix/replication/reader/ReplicationLogProcessorTestIT.java
index 8a985f3ead1..6ebce9718a0 100644
--- a/phoenix-core/src/it/java/org/apache/phoenix/replication/reader/ReplicationLogProcessorTestIT.java
+++ b/phoenix-core/src/it/java/org/apache/phoenix/replication/reader/ReplicationLogProcessorTestIT.java
@@ -182,27 +182,52 @@ public void testCreateLogFileReaderWithNonExistentFile() throws IOException {
   }
 
   /**
-   * Tests error handling when attempting to create LogFileReader with an invalid/corrupted file.
+   * Tests that createLogFileReader returns empty for a zero-byte file.
    */
   @Test
-  public void testCreateLogFileReaderWithInvalidLogFile() throws IOException {
+  public void testCreateLogFileReaderWithEmptyLogFile() throws IOException {
     Path invalidFilePath = new Path(testFolder.newFile("invalid_file").toURI());
     localFs.create(invalidFilePath).close(); // Create empty file
     ReplicationLogProcessor replicationLogProcessor =
       new ReplicationLogProcessor(conf, testHAGroupName);
     try {
-      replicationLogProcessor.createLogFileReader(localFs, invalidFilePath);
-      fail("Should throw IOException for invalid file");
-    } catch (IOException e) {
-      // Should throw some kind of IOException when trying to read header
-      assertTrue("Should throw IOException", true);
+      Optional<LogFileReader> optionalLogFileReader =
+        replicationLogProcessor.createLogFileReader(localFs, invalidFilePath);
+      assertFalse("Reader should not be present for empty file", optionalLogFileReader.isPresent());
     } finally {
-      // Delete the invalid file
       localFs.delete(invalidFilePath);
       replicationLogProcessor.close();
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Tests that createLogFileReader closes the reader when init() throws IOException.
+   */
+  @Test
+  public void testCreateLogFileReaderClosesReaderOnInitFailure() throws IOException {
+    // Write garbage data so the file is non-empty but has no valid log file header
+    Path invalidFilePath = new Path(testFolder.newFile("init_failure_file").toURI());
+    org.apache.hadoop.fs.FSDataOutputStream out = localFs.create(invalidFilePath, true);
+    out.write("garbage data that is not a valid log file header".getBytes());
+    out.close();
+
+    assertTrue("File should be non-empty", localFs.getFileStatus(invalidFilePath).getLen() > 0);
+
+    ReplicationLogProcessor spyProcessor =
+      Mockito.spy(new ReplicationLogProcessor(conf, testHAGroupName));
+    try {
+      spyProcessor.createLogFileReader(localFs, invalidFilePath);
+      fail("Should throw IOException for file with invalid content");
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      // Expected: init() fails because the file does not contain a valid log file header
+    } finally {
+      localFs.delete(invalidFilePath);
+      spyProcessor.close();
+    }
+
+    Mockito.verify(spyProcessor, Mockito.times(1)).closeReader(Mockito.any(LogFileReader.class));
+  }
+
   /**
    * Tests the closeReader method with both null and valid LogFileReader instances.
    */