diff --git a/src/stat_cache.c b/src/stat_cache.c
index 8729d7bc..61f1cb1f 100644
--- a/src/stat_cache.c
+++ b/src/stat_cache.c
@@ -1101,7 +1101,9 @@ int stat_cache_open_rdonly_fstat (const buffer *name, struct stat *st, int symli
 		if (0 == fstat(fd, st)) {
 			return fd;
 		} else {
+			const int errnum = errno;
 			close(fd);
+			errno = errnum;
 		}
 	}
 	return -1;