diff --git a/source/eventcore/drivers/posix/events.d b/source/eventcore/drivers/posix/events.d
index 92e9997..c96c060 100644
--- a/source/eventcore/drivers/posix/events.d
+++ b/source/eventcore/drivers/posix/events.d
@@ -64,6 +64,9 @@ final class PosixEventDriverEvents(Loop : PosixEventLoop, Sockets : EventDriverS
 		} else {
 			sock_t[2] fd;
 			version (Posix) {
+				import core.sys.posix.fcntl : fcntl, F_SETFL;
+				import eventcore.drivers.posix.sockets : O_CLOEXEC;
+
 				// create a pair of sockets to communicate between threads
 				import core.sys.posix.sys.socket : SOCK_DGRAM, AF_UNIX, socketpair;
 				if (() @trusted { return socketpair(AF_UNIX, SOCK_DGRAM, 0, fd); } () != 0)
@@ -72,7 +75,9 @@ final class PosixEventDriverEvents(Loop : PosixEventLoop, Sockets : EventDriverS
 				assert(fd[0] != fd[1]);
 
 				// use the first socket as the async receiver
-				auto s = m_sockets.adoptDatagramSocketInternal(fd[0]);
+				auto s = m_sockets.adoptDatagramSocketInternal(fd[0], true, true);
+
+				() @trusted { fcntl(fd[1], F_SETFL, O_CLOEXEC); } ();
 			} else {
 				// fake missing socketpair support on Windows
 				import std.socket : InternetAddress;
diff --git a/source/eventcore/drivers/posix/signals.d b/source/eventcore/drivers/posix/signals.d
index aec99ce..cc57398 100644
--- a/source/eventcore/drivers/posix/signals.d
+++ b/source/eventcore/drivers/posix/signals.d
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ final class SignalFDEventDriverSignals(Loop : PosixEventLoop) : EventDriverSigna
 			if (sigprocmask(SIG_BLOCK, &sset, null) != 0)
 				return SignalListenID.invalid;
 
-			return SignalListenID(signalfd(-1, &sset, SFD_NONBLOCK));
+			return SignalListenID(signalfd(-1, &sset, SFD_NONBLOCK | SFD_CLOEXEC));
 		} ();
 
 
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ final class SignalFDEventDriverSignals(Loop : PosixEventLoop) : EventDriverSigna
 		assert(m_loop.m_fds[descriptor].common.refCount > 0, "Adding reference to unreferenced event FD.");
 		m_loop.m_fds[descriptor].common.refCount++;
 	}
-	
+
 	override bool releaseRef(SignalListenID descriptor)
 	{
 		FD fd = cast(FD)descriptor;
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ final class SignalFDEventDriverSignals(Loop : PosixEventLoop) : EventDriverSigna
 		SignalListenID lid = cast(SignalListenID)fd;
 		signalfd_siginfo nfo;
 		do {
-			auto ret = () @trusted { return read(cast(int)fd, &nfo, nfo.sizeof); } ();	
+			auto ret = () @trusted { return read(cast(int)fd, &nfo, nfo.sizeof); } ();
 			if (ret == -1 && errno.among!(EAGAIN, EINPROGRESS))
 				break;
 			auto cb = m_loop.m_fds[fd].signal.callback;
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ final class DummyEventDriverSignals(Loop : PosixEventLoop) : EventDriverSignals
 	{
 		assert(false);
 	}
-	
+
 	override bool releaseRef(SignalListenID descriptor)
 	{
 		assert(false);
diff --git a/source/eventcore/drivers/posix/sockets.d b/source/eventcore/drivers/posix/sockets.d
index 6197537..489df3c 100644
--- a/source/eventcore/drivers/posix/sockets.d
+++ b/source/eventcore/drivers/posix/sockets.d
@@ -595,12 +595,12 @@ final class PosixEventDriverSockets(Loop : PosixEventLoop) : EventDriverSockets
 		return adoptDatagramSocketInternal(socket, false);
 	}
 
-	package DatagramSocketFD adoptDatagramSocketInternal(int socket, bool is_internal = true)
+	package DatagramSocketFD adoptDatagramSocketInternal(int socket, bool is_internal = true, bool close_on_exec = false)
 	{
 		auto fd = DatagramSocketFD(socket);
 		if (m_loop.m_fds[fd].common.refCount) // FD already in use?
 			return DatagramSocketFD.init;
-		setSocketNonBlocking(fd);
+		setSocketNonBlocking(fd, close_on_exec);
 		m_loop.initFD(fd, is_internal ? FDFlags.internal : FDFlags.none);
 		m_loop.registerFD(fd, EventMask.read|EventMask.write|EventMask.status);
 		m_loop.m_fds[fd].specific = DgramSocketSlot.init;
diff --git a/source/eventcore/drivers/posix/watchers.d b/source/eventcore/drivers/posix/watchers.d
index d2ac005..ceae467 100644
--- a/source/eventcore/drivers/posix/watchers.d
+++ b/source/eventcore/drivers/posix/watchers.d
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ final class InotifyEventDriverWatchers(Events : EventDriverEvents) : EventDriver
 		import std.range.primitives : walkLength;
 
 		enum IN_NONBLOCK = 0x800; // value in core.sys.linux.sys.inotify is incorrect
-		auto handle = () @trusted { return inotify_init1(IN_NONBLOCK); } ();
+		auto handle = () @trusted { return inotify_init1(IN_NONBLOCK | IN_CLOEXEC); } ();
 		if (handle == -1) return WatcherID.invalid;
 
 		auto ret = WatcherID(handle);