diff --git a/src/hotspot/share/runtime/os.cpp b/src/hotspot/share/runtime/os.cpp
index cda752ccf8d..71eafe1c3fb 100644
--- a/src/hotspot/share/runtime/os.cpp
+++ b/src/hotspot/share/runtime/os.cpp
@@ -1243,6 +1243,30 @@ char* os::format_boot_path(const char* format_string,
     return formatted_path;
 }
 
+// This function is a proxy to fopen, it tries to add a non standard flag ('e' or 'N')
+// that ensures automatic closing of the file on exec. If it can not find support in
+// the underlying c library, it will make an extra system call (fcntl) to ensure automatic
+// closing of the file on exec.
+FILE* os::fopen(const char* path, const char* mode) {
+  char modified_mode[20];
+  assert(strlen(mode) + 1 < sizeof(modified_mode), "mode chars plus one extra must fit in buffer");
+  sprintf(modified_mode, "%s" LINUX_ONLY("e") BSD_ONLY("e") WINDOWS_ONLY("N"), mode);
+  FILE* file = ::fopen(path, modified_mode);
+
+#if !(defined LINUX || defined BSD || defined _WINDOWS)
+  // assume fcntl FD_CLOEXEC support as a backup solution when 'e' or 'N'
+  // is not supported as mode in fopen
+  if (file != NULL) {
+    int fd = fileno(file);
+    if (fd != -1) {
+      fcntl(fd, F_SETFD, fcntl(fd, F_GETFD) | FD_CLOEXEC);
+    }
+  }
+#endif
+
+  return file;
+}
+
 bool os::set_boot_path(char fileSep, char pathSep) {
   const char* home = Arguments::get_java_home();
   int home_len = (int)strlen(home);