diff --git a/src/evhelper.cpp b/src/evhelper.cpp
index 2b90431..b530e17 100644
--- a/src/evhelper.cpp
+++ b/src/evhelper.cpp
@@ -320,15 +320,23 @@ evsocket::evsocket(evutil_socket_t sock)
     if(sock==evutil_socket_t(-1))
         throw std::bad_alloc();
 
+    evutil_make_socket_closeonexec(sock);
+
     if(evutil_make_socket_nonblocking(sock)) {
         evutil_closesocket(sock);
         throw std::runtime_error("Unable to make non-blocking socket");
     }
 }
 
+// Linux specific way to atomically create a socket with O_CLOEXEC
+#ifndef SOCK_CLOEXEC
+#  define SOCK_CLOEXEC 0
+#endif
+
 evsocket::evsocket(int af, int type, int proto)
-    :evsocket(socket(af, type, proto))
-{}
+    :evsocket(socket(af, type | SOCK_CLOEXEC, proto))
+{
+}
 
 evsocket::evsocket(evsocket&& o) noexcept
     :sock(o.sock)
diff --git a/src/serverconn.cpp b/src/serverconn.cpp
index 6a183b9..fc4fb91 100644
--- a/src/serverconn.cpp
+++ b/src/serverconn.cpp
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ ServIface::ServIface(const std::string& addr, unsigned short port, server::Serve
 #endif
 
     const int backlog = 4;
-    listener = evlisten(evconnlistener_new(server->acceptor_loop.base, onConnS, this, LEV_OPT_DISABLED, backlog, sock.sock));
+    listener = evlisten(evconnlistener_new(server->acceptor_loop.base, onConnS, this, LEV_OPT_DISABLED|LEV_OPT_CLOSE_ON_EXEC, backlog, sock.sock));
 
     if(!LEV_OPT_DISABLED)
         evconnlistener_disable(listener.get());