diff --git a/pulsar-io/kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/io/kafka/KafkaAbstractSource.java b/pulsar-io/kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/io/kafka/KafkaAbstractSource.java
index 565c36047474b..8d2cbd8e74e14 100644
--- a/pulsar-io/kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/io/kafka/KafkaAbstractSource.java
+++ b/pulsar-io/kafka/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/io/kafka/KafkaAbstractSource.java
@@ -189,7 +189,14 @@ public void start() {
             }
         });
         runnerThread.setUncaughtExceptionHandler(
-                (t, e) -> LOG.error("[{}] Error while consuming records", t.getName(), e));
+                (t, e) -> {
+                    LOG.error("[{}] Error while consuming records", t.getName(), e);
+                    try {
+                        this.close();
+                    } catch (InterruptedException ex) {
+                        // The interrupted exception is thrown by the runnerThread itself. Ignore it.
+                    }
+                });
         runnerThread.setName("Kafka Source Thread");
         runnerThread.start();
     }
diff --git a/pulsar-io/kafka/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/io/kafka/source/KafkaAbstractSourceTest.java b/pulsar-io/kafka/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/io/kafka/source/KafkaAbstractSourceTest.java
index 612cf0bc6d2b1..bc06c3e1935b4 100644
--- a/pulsar-io/kafka/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/io/kafka/source/KafkaAbstractSourceTest.java
+++ b/pulsar-io/kafka/src/test/java/org/apache/pulsar/io/kafka/source/KafkaAbstractSourceTest.java
@@ -20,7 +20,10 @@
 
 
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
+import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Collections;
+import java.lang.reflect.Field;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.Consumer;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.ConsumerConfig;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.ConsumerRecord;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.security.auth.SecurityProtocol;
@@ -28,6 +31,7 @@
 import org.apache.pulsar.io.core.SourceContext;
 import org.apache.pulsar.io.kafka.KafkaAbstractSource;
 import org.apache.pulsar.io.kafka.KafkaSourceConfig;
+import org.mockito.Mockito;
 import org.testng.Assert;
 import org.testng.annotations.Test;
 
@@ -153,6 +157,25 @@ public final void loadFromSaslYamlFileTest() throws IOException {
         assertEquals(config.getSslTruststorePassword(), "cert_pwd");
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public final void closeConnectorWhenUnexpectedExceptionThrownTest() throws Exception {
+        KafkaAbstractSource source = new DummySource();
+        Consumer consumer = mock(Consumer.class);
+        Mockito.doThrow(new RuntimeException("Uncaught exception")).when(consumer)
+                .subscribe(Mockito.any(Collection.class));
+
+        Field consumerField = KafkaAbstractSource.class.getDeclaredField("consumer");
+        consumerField.setAccessible(true);
+        consumerField.set(source, consumer);
+
+        source.start();
+
+        Field runningField = KafkaAbstractSource.class.getDeclaredField("running");
+        runningField.setAccessible(true);
+
+        Assert.assertFalse((boolean) runningField.get(source));
+    }
+
     private File getFile(String name) {
         ClassLoader classLoader = getClass().getClassLoader();
         return new File(classLoader.getResource(name).getFile());