diff --git a/runopts.h b/runopts.h
index 8c44b52..50c51df 100644
--- a/runopts.h
+++ b/runopts.h
@@ -79,8 +79,9 @@ typedef struct svr_runopts {
 	char *addresses[DROPBEAR_MAX_PORTS];
 
 	int inetdmode;
-	/* Hidden "-2" flag indicates it's re-executing itself */
-	int reexec_child;
+	/* Hidden "-2 childpipe_fd" flag indicates it's re-executing itself,
+	   stores the childpipe preauth file descriptor. Set to -1 otherwise. */
+	int reexec_childpipe;
 
 	/* Flags indicating whether to use ipv4 and ipv6 */
 	/* not used yet
diff --git a/svr-main.c b/svr-main.c
index a9f8a57..be69e39 100644
--- a/svr-main.c
+++ b/svr-main.c
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv)
 #endif
 
 #if DROPBEAR_DO_REEXEC
-	if (svr_opts.reexec_child) {
+	if (svr_opts.reexec_childpipe >= 0) {
 #ifdef PR_SET_NAME
 		/* Fix the "Name:" in /proc/pid/status, otherwise it's
 		a FD number from fexecve.
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ static void main_inetd() {
 
 	seedrandom();
 
-	if (!svr_opts.reexec_child) {
+	if (svr_opts.reexec_childpipe < 0) {
 		/* In case our inetd was lax in logging source addresses */
 		get_socket_address(0, NULL, NULL, &host, &port, 0);
 			dropbear_log(LOG_INFO, "Child connection from %s:%s", host, port);
@@ -115,10 +115,8 @@ static void main_inetd() {
 		setsid();
 	}
 
-	/* Start service program 
-	 * -1 is a dummy childpipe, just something we can close() without 
-	 * mattering. */
-	svr_session(0, -1);
+	/* -1 for childpipe in the inetd case is discarded */
+	svr_session(0, svr_opts.reexec_childpipe);
 
 	/* notreached */
 }
@@ -347,9 +345,10 @@ static void main_noinetd(int argc, char ** argv, const char* multipath) {
 
 				if (execfd >= 0) {
 #if DROPBEAR_DO_REEXEC
-					/* Add "-2" to the args and re-execute ourself. */
-					char **new_argv = m_malloc(sizeof(char*) * (argc+3));
-					int pos0 = 0, new_argc = argc+1;
+					/* Add "-2 childpipe[1]" to the args and re-execute ourself. */
+					char **new_argv = m_malloc(sizeof(char*) * (argc+4));
+					char buf[10];
+					int pos0 = 0, new_argc = argc+2;
 
 					/* We need to specially handle "dropbearmulti dropbear". */
 					if (multipath) {
@@ -359,7 +358,9 @@ static void main_noinetd(int argc, char ** argv, const char* multipath) {
 					}
 
 					memcpy(&new_argv[pos0], argv, sizeof(char*) * argc);
-					new_argv[new_argc-1] = "-2";
+					new_argv[new_argc-2] = "-2";
+					snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "%d", childpipe[1]);
+					new_argv[new_argc-1] = buf;
 					new_argv[new_argc] = NULL;
 
 					if ((dup2(childsock, STDIN_FILENO) < 0)) {
diff --git a/svr-runopts.c b/svr-runopts.c
index 9f40089..c15f23b 100644
--- a/svr-runopts.c
+++ b/svr-runopts.c
@@ -138,6 +138,7 @@ void svr_getopts(int argc, char ** argv) {
 	char* keepalive_arg = NULL;
 	char* idle_timeout_arg = NULL;
 	char* maxauthtries_arg = NULL;
+	char* reexec_fd_arg = NULL;
 	char* keyfile = NULL;
 	char c;
 #if DROPBEAR_PLUGIN
@@ -175,6 +176,7 @@ void svr_getopts(int argc, char ** argv) {
         svr_opts.pubkey_plugin_options = NULL;
 #endif
 	svr_opts.pass_on_env = 0;
+	svr_opts.reexec_childpipe = -1;
 
 #ifndef DISABLE_ZLIB
 	opts.compress_mode = DROPBEAR_COMPRESS_DELAYED;
@@ -250,12 +252,12 @@ void svr_getopts(int argc, char ** argv) {
 #if DROPBEAR_DO_REEXEC && NON_INETD_MODE
 				/* For internal use by re-exec */
 				case '2':
-					svr_opts.reexec_child = 1;
+					next = &reexec_fd_arg;
 					break;
 #endif
 				case 'p':
-				  nextisport = 1;
-				  break;
+					nextisport = 1;
+					break;
 				case 'P':
 					next = &svr_opts.pidfile;
 					break;
@@ -426,6 +428,13 @@ void svr_getopts(int argc, char ** argv) {
 		dropbear_log(LOG_INFO, "Forced command set to '%s'", svr_opts.forced_command);
 	}
 
+	if (reexec_fd_arg) {
+		if (m_str_to_uint(reexec_fd_arg, &svr_opts.reexec_childpipe) == DROPBEAR_FAILURE
+			|| svr_opts.reexec_childpipe < 0) {
+			dropbear_exit("Bad -2");
+		}
+	}
+
 #if INETD_MODE
 	if (svr_opts.inetdmode && (
 		opts.usingsyslog == 0