diff --git a/lib/multihandle.h b/lib/multihandle.h
index 9126801511..add9a05184 100644
--- a/lib/multihandle.h
+++ b/lib/multihandle.h
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ struct Curl_multi {
   WSAEVENT wsa_event; /* winsock event used for waits */
 #else
 #ifdef ENABLE_WAKEUP
-  curl_socket_t wakeup_pair[2]; /* socketpair() used for wakeup
+  curl_socket_t wakeup_pair[2]; /* pipe()/socketpair() used for wakeup
                                    0 is used for read, 1 is used for write */
 #endif
 #endif
diff --git a/lib/socketpair.c b/lib/socketpair.c
index d01b255134..d7e3afd889 100644
--- a/lib/socketpair.c
+++ b/lib/socketpair.c
@@ -27,6 +27,27 @@
 #include "urldata.h"
 #include "rand.h"
 
+#if defined(HAVE_PIPE) && defined(HAVE_FCNTL)
+#include <fcntl.h>
+
+int Curl_pipe(curl_socket_t socks[2])
+{
+  if(pipe(socks))
+    return -1;
+
+  if(fcntl(socks[0], F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC) ||
+     fcntl(socks[1], F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC) ) {
+    close(socks[0]);
+    close(socks[1]);
+    socks[0] = socks[1] = CURL_SOCKET_BAD;
+    return -1;
+  }
+
+  return 0;
+}
+#endif
+
+
 #if !defined(HAVE_SOCKETPAIR) && !defined(CURL_DISABLE_SOCKETPAIR)
 #ifdef _WIN32
 /*
diff --git a/lib/socketpair.h b/lib/socketpair.h
index 09d975477a..ddd44374a7 100644
--- a/lib/socketpair.h
+++ b/lib/socketpair.h
@@ -31,7 +31,14 @@
 #define wakeup_write  write
 #define wakeup_read   read
 #define wakeup_close  close
-#define wakeup_create pipe
+#define wakeup_create(p) Curl_pipe(p)
+
+#ifdef HAVE_FCNTL
+#include <curl/curl.h>
+int Curl_pipe(curl_socket_t socks[2]);
+#else
+#define Curl_pipe(p) pipe(p)
+#endif
 
 #else /* HAVE_PIPE */
 
@@ -40,17 +47,25 @@
 #define wakeup_close     sclose
 
 #if defined(USE_UNIX_SOCKETS) && defined(HAVE_SOCKETPAIR)
-#define SOCKET_FAMILY AF_UNIX
+#define SOCKETPAIR_FAMILY AF_UNIX
 #elif !defined(HAVE_SOCKETPAIR)
-#define SOCKET_FAMILY 0 /* not used */
+#define SOCKETPAIR_FAMILY 0 /* not used */
 #else
 #error "unsupported unix domain and socketpair build combo"
 #endif
 
-#define wakeup_create(p) Curl_socketpair(SOCKET_FAMILY, SOCK_STREAM, 0, p)
+#ifdef SOCK_CLOEXEC
+#define SOCKETPAIR_TYPE (SOCK_STREAM | SOCK_CLOEXEC)
+#else
+#define SOCKETPAIR_TYPE SOCK_STREAM
+#endif
+
+#define wakeup_create(p)\
+Curl_socketpair(SOCKETPAIR_FAMILY, SOCKETPAIR_TYPE, 0, p)
 
 #endif /* HAVE_PIPE */
 
+
 #ifndef HAVE_SOCKETPAIR
 #include <curl/curl.h>