diff --git a/plugins/ipam/host-local/backend/disk/backend.go b/plugins/ipam/host-local/backend/disk/backend.go
index 742361ba..76407ff3 100644
--- a/plugins/ipam/host-local/backend/disk/backend.go
+++ b/plugins/ipam/host-local/backend/disk/backend.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 const lastIPFilePrefix = "last_reserved_ip."
+const LineBreak = "\r\n"
 
 var defaultDataDir = "/var/lib/cni/networks"
 
@@ -65,7 +66,7 @@ func (s *Store) Reserve(id string, ifname string, ip net.IP, rangeID string) (bo
 	if err != nil {
 		return false, err
 	}
-	if _, err := f.WriteString(strings.TrimSpace(id) + "\n" + ifname); err != nil {
+	if _, err := f.WriteString(strings.TrimSpace(id) + LineBreak + ifname); err != nil {
 		f.Close()
 		os.Remove(f.Name())
 		return false, err
@@ -97,10 +98,7 @@ func (s *Store) Release(ip net.IP) error {
 	return os.Remove(GetEscapedPath(s.dataDir, ip.String()))
 }
 
-// N.B. This function eats errors to be tolerant and
-// release as much as possible
-func (s *Store) ReleaseByID(id string, ifname string) error {
-
+func (s *Store) ReleaseByKey(id string, ifname string, match string) (bool, error) {
 	found := false
 	err := filepath.Walk(s.dataDir, func(path string, info os.FileInfo, err error) error {
 		if err != nil || info.IsDir() {
@@ -110,7 +108,7 @@ func (s *Store) ReleaseByID(id string, ifname string) error {
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil
 		}
-		if strings.TrimSpace(string(data)) == (strings.TrimSpace(id) + "\n" + ifname) {
+		if strings.TrimSpace(string(data)) == match {
 			if err := os.Remove(path); err != nil {
 				return nil
 			}
@@ -118,27 +116,21 @@ func (s *Store) ReleaseByID(id string, ifname string) error {
 		}
 		return nil
 	})
+	return found, err
 
-	if (!found) && (err == nil) {
-		err = filepath.Walk(s.dataDir, func(path string, info os.FileInfo, err error) error {
-			if err != nil || info.IsDir() {
-				return nil
-			}
-			data, err := ioutil.ReadFile(path)
-			if err != nil {
-				return nil
-			}
-			isCurrent := strings.Contains(string(data), "\n")
+}
 
-			if !isCurrent {
-				if strings.TrimSpace(string(data)) == (strings.TrimSpace(id)) {
-					if err := os.Remove(path); err != nil {
-						return nil
-					}
-				}
-			}
-			return nil
-		})
+// N.B. This function eats errors to be tolerant and
+// release as much as possible
+func (s *Store) ReleaseByID(id string, ifname string) error {
+	found := false
+	match := strings.TrimSpace(id) + LineBreak + ifname
+	found, err := s.ReleaseByKey(id, ifname, match)
+
+	// For backwards compatibility, look for files written by a previous version
+	if !found && err == nil {
+		match := strings.TrimSpace(id)
+		found, err = s.ReleaseByKey(id, ifname, match)
 	}
 	return err
 }