diff --git a/rpmio/cloexec.c b/rpmio/cloexec.c
index 16c1e64fdd..5b0a216818 100644
--- a/rpmio/cloexec.c
+++ b/rpmio/cloexec.c
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <dirent.h>
+#include <sys/resource.h>
 #include "rpmutil.h"
 
 static void set_cloexec(int fd)
@@ -39,7 +40,13 @@ void rpmSetCloseOnExec(void)
 
 fallback:
 	// iterate over all possible fds
-	int open_max = sysconf(_SC_OPEN_MAX);
+	struct rlimit rl;
+	int open_max;
+
+	if (getrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, &rl) == 0 && rl.rlim_max != RLIM_INFINITY)
+		open_max = rl.rlim_max;
+	else
+		open_max = sysconf(_SC_OPEN_MAX);
 	if (open_max == -1) {
 	    open_max = 1024;
 	}