diff --git a/lib/module.js b/lib/module.js
index 0ee109bc325d60..902d1a74ada741 100644
--- a/lib/module.js
+++ b/lib/module.js
@@ -118,9 +118,8 @@ Module._debug = util.deprecate(debug, 'Module._debug is deprecated.',
 const packageMainCache = Object.create(null);
 
 function readPackage(requestPath) {
-  const entry = packageMainCache[requestPath];
-  if (entry)
-    return entry;
+  if (requestPath in packageMainCache)
+    return packageMainCache[requestPath];
 
   const jsonPath = path.resolve(requestPath, 'package.json');
   const json = internalModuleReadJSON(path.toNamespacedPath(jsonPath));
diff --git a/src/node_file.cc b/src/node_file.cc
index c9bbea1ee5f621..73b73f7f09e3cc 100644
--- a/src/node_file.cc
+++ b/src/node_file.cc
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 # include <io.h>
 #endif
 
+#include <memory>
 #include <vector>
 
 namespace node {
@@ -475,6 +476,12 @@ static void InternalModuleReadJSON(const FunctionCallbackInfo<Value>& args) {
     return;
   }
 
+  std::shared_ptr<void> defer_close(nullptr, [fd, loop] (...) {
+    uv_fs_t close_req;
+    CHECK_EQ(0, uv_fs_close(loop, &close_req, fd, nullptr));
+    uv_fs_req_cleanup(&close_req);
+  });
+
   const size_t kBlockSize = 32 << 10;
   std::vector<char> chars;
   int64_t offset = 0;
@@ -490,15 +497,13 @@ static void InternalModuleReadJSON(const FunctionCallbackInfo<Value>& args) {
     uv_fs_t read_req;
     numchars = uv_fs_read(loop, &read_req, fd, &buf, 1, offset, nullptr);
     uv_fs_req_cleanup(&read_req);
-
-    CHECK_GE(numchars, 0);
+    if (numchars < 0) {
+      args.GetReturnValue().SetEmptyString();
+      return;
+    }
     offset += numchars;
   } while (static_cast<size_t>(numchars) == kBlockSize);
 
-  uv_fs_t close_req;
-  CHECK_EQ(0, uv_fs_close(loop, &close_req, fd, nullptr));
-  uv_fs_req_cleanup(&close_req);
-
   size_t start = 0;
   if (offset >= 3 && 0 == memcmp(&chars[0], "\xEF\xBB\xBF", 3)) {
     start = 3;  // Skip UTF-8 BOM.
diff --git a/test/fixtures/module-package-json-directory/package.json/index.js b/test/fixtures/module-package-json-directory/package.json/index.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..e69de29bb2d1d6
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-require-package-json-directory.js b/test/parallel/test-require-package-json-directory.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..515f3350114e10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-require-package-json-directory.js
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+'use strict';
+const common = require('../common');
+const fixtures = require('../common/fixtures');
+
+common.expectsError(
+  () => { require(fixtures.path('module-package-json-directory')); },
+  {
+    code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
+    message: /Cannot find module/
+  });