diff --git a/read-cache.c b/read-cache.c
index 38d67faf708d7b88f208f10dad23f893dd16f587..db5d910642663e73e4e4fc8d91e0caba4445bdb1 100644
--- a/read-cache.c
+++ b/read-cache.c
@@ -156,7 +156,14 @@ void fill_stat_cache_info(struct cache_entry *ce, struct stat *st)
 static int ce_compare_data(const struct cache_entry *ce, struct stat *st)
 {
 	int match = -1;
-	int fd = open(ce->name, O_RDONLY);
+	static int cloexec = O_CLOEXEC;
+	int fd = open(ce->name, O_RDONLY | cloexec);
+
+	if ((cloexec & O_CLOEXEC) && fd < 0 && errno == EINVAL) {
+		/* Try again w/o O_CLOEXEC: the kernel might not support it */
+		cloexec &= ~O_CLOEXEC;
+		fd = open(ce->name, O_RDONLY | cloexec);
+	}
 
 	if (fd >= 0) {
 		unsigned char sha1[20];