diff --git a/util/systemd.c b/util/systemd.c
index 1dd0367d9a..5bcac9b401 100644
--- a/util/systemd.c
+++ b/util/systemd.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ unsigned int check_socket_activation(void)
     unsigned long nr_fds;
     unsigned int i;
     int fd;
+    int f;
     int err;
 
     s = getenv("LISTEN_PID");
@@ -54,7 +55,8 @@ unsigned int check_socket_activation(void)
     /* So the file descriptors don't leak into child processes. */
     for (i = 0; i < nr_fds; ++i) {
         fd = FIRST_SOCKET_ACTIVATION_FD + i;
-        if (fcntl(fd, F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC) == -1) {
+        f = fcntl(fd, F_GETFD);
+        if (f == -1 || fcntl(fd, F_SETFD, f | FD_CLOEXEC) == -1) {
             /* If we cannot set FD_CLOEXEC then it probably means the file
              * descriptor is invalid, so socket activation has gone wrong
              * and we should exit.