diff --git a/lib/std/child_process.zig b/lib/std/child_process.zig
index 3254b958b7..a5c69c904a 100644
--- a/lib/std/child_process.zig
+++ b/lib/std/child_process.zig
@@ -396,7 +396,7 @@ pub const ChildProcess = struct {
         // and execve from the child process to the parent process.
         const err_pipe = blk: {
             if (builtin.os.tag == .linux) {
-                const fd = try os.eventfd(0, 0);
+                const fd = try os.eventfd(0, os.EFD_CLOEXEC);
                 // There's no distinction between the readable and the writeable
                 // end with eventfd
                 break :blk [2]os.fd_t{ fd, fd };