diff --git a/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/sysconf.c b/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/sysconf.c
index 7958a74164..9c5a4cb1a4 100644
--- a/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/sysconf.c
+++ b/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/sysconf.c
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ __sysconf (int name)
 
   if (procfname != NULL)
     {
-      int fd = __open_nocancel (procfname, O_RDONLY);
+      int fd = __open_nocancel (procfname, O_RDONLY | O_CLOEXEC);
       if (fd != -1)
 	{
 	  /* This is more than enough, the file contains a single integer.  */