diff --git a/src/base/socket.cc b/src/base/socket.cc
index fa61ea4cfc..f0aeb01992 100644
--- a/src/base/socket.cc
+++ b/src/base/socket.cc
@@ -81,6 +81,28 @@ ListenSocket::loopbackOnly()
     bindToLoopback = true;
 }
 
+// Wrappers to stub out SOCK_CLOEXEC/accept4 availability
+
+int
+ListenSocket::socketCloexec(int domain, int type, int protocol)
+{
+#ifdef SOCK_CLOEXEC
+    type |= SOCK_CLOEXEC;
+#endif
+    return ::socket(domain, type, protocol);
+}
+
+int
+ListenSocket::acceptCloexec(int sockfd, struct sockaddr *addr,
+                             socklen_t *addrlen)
+{
+#if defined(_GNU_SOURCE) && defined(SOCK_CLOEXEC)
+    return ::accept4(sockfd, addr, addrlen, SOCK_CLOEXEC);
+#else
+    return ::accept(sockfd, addr, addrlen);
+#endif
+}
+
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 //
 //
@@ -104,7 +126,7 @@ ListenSocket::listen(int port, bool reuse)
 
     // only create socket if not already created by a previous call
     if (fd == -1) {
-        fd = ::socket(PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
+        fd = socketCloexec(PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM | SOCK_CLOEXEC, 0);
         if (fd < 0)
             panic("Can't create socket:%s !", strerror(errno));
     }
@@ -150,7 +172,7 @@ ListenSocket::accept(bool nodelay)
 {
     struct sockaddr_in sockaddr;
     socklen_t slen = sizeof (sockaddr);
-    int sfd = ::accept(fd, (struct sockaddr *)&sockaddr, &slen);
+    int sfd = acceptCloexec(fd, (struct sockaddr *)&sockaddr, &slen);
     if (sfd != -1 && nodelay) {
         int i = 1;
         if (::setsockopt(sfd, IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_NODELAY, (char *)&i,
diff --git a/src/base/socket.hh b/src/base/socket.hh
index b9b257c10b..4ed6185152 100644
--- a/src/base/socket.hh
+++ b/src/base/socket.hh
@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@
 #ifndef __SOCKET_HH__
 #define __SOCKET_HH__
 
+#include <sys/socket.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+
 namespace gem5
 {
 
@@ -59,6 +62,13 @@ class ListenSocket
      */
     static void cleanup();
 
+  private:
+    /* Create a socket, adding SOCK_CLOEXEC if available. */
+    static int socketCloexec(int domain, int type, int protocol);
+    /* Accept a connection, adding SOCK_CLOEXEC if available. */
+    static int acceptCloexec(int sockfd, struct sockaddr *addr,
+                              socklen_t *addrlen);
+
 
   public:
     /**