diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 99a0a3e689..2d373a61a6 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1420,10 +1420,9 @@ config_host_data.set('CONFIG_POSIX_MADVISE', cc.links(gnu_source_prefix + '''
   #include <stddef.h>
   int main(void) { return posix_madvise(NULL, 0, POSIX_MADV_DONTNEED); }'''))
 config_host_data.set('CONFIG_SIGNALFD', cc.links(gnu_source_prefix + '''
-  #include <unistd.h>
-  #include <sys/syscall.h>
-  #include <signal.h>
-  int main(void) { return syscall(SYS_signalfd, -1, NULL, _NSIG / 8); }'''))
+  #include <sys/signalfd.h>
+  #include <stddef.h>
+  int main(void) { return signalfd(-1, NULL, SFD_CLOEXEC); }'''))
 config_host_data.set('CONFIG_SPLICE', cc.links(gnu_source_prefix + '''
   #include <unistd.h>
   #include <fcntl.h>
diff --git a/util/compatfd.c b/util/compatfd.c
index a8ec525c6c..ab810c42a9 100644
--- a/util/compatfd.c
+++ b/util/compatfd.c
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 #include "qemu/thread.h"
 
 #if defined(CONFIG_SIGNALFD)
-#include <sys/syscall.h>
+#include <sys/signalfd.h>
 #endif
 
 struct sigfd_compat_info {
@@ -96,9 +96,8 @@ int qemu_signalfd(const sigset_t *mask)
 #if defined(CONFIG_SIGNALFD)
     int ret;
 
-    ret = syscall(SYS_signalfd, -1, mask, _NSIG / 8);
+    ret = signalfd(-1, mask, SFD_CLOEXEC);
     if (ret != -1) {
-        qemu_set_cloexec(ret);
         return ret;
     }
 #endif