diff --git a/include/os.h b/include/os.h
index 450e1a8e8..9b6729421 100644
--- a/include/os.h
+++ b/include/os.h
@@ -686,4 +686,7 @@ LogPrintMarkers(void);
 extern _X_EXPORT void
 xorg_backtrace(void);
 
+extern _X_EXPORT int
+os_move_fd(int fd);
+
 #endif                          /* OS_H */
diff --git a/miext/sync/misyncshm.c b/miext/sync/misyncshm.c
index 3f9350af5..20780fde8 100644
--- a/miext/sync/misyncshm.c
+++ b/miext/sync/misyncshm.c
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 #include "pixmapstr.h"
 #include <sys/mman.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
 #include <X11/xshmfence.h>
 
 static DevPrivateKeyRec syncShmFencePrivateKey;
@@ -126,6 +127,7 @@ miSyncShmCreateFenceFromFd(ScreenPtr pScreen, SyncFence *pFence, int fd, Bool in
 
     miSyncInitFence(pScreen, pFence, initially_triggered);
 
+    fd = os_move_fd(fd);
     pPriv->fence = xshmfence_map_shm(fd);
     if (pPriv->fence) {
         pPriv->fd = fd;
@@ -145,6 +147,7 @@ miSyncShmGetFenceFd(ScreenPtr pScreen, SyncFence *pFence)
         pPriv->fd = xshmfence_alloc_shm();
         if (pPriv->fd < 0)
             return -1;
+        pPriv->fd = os_move_fd(pPriv->fd);
         pPriv->fence = xshmfence_map_shm(pPriv->fd);
         if (!pPriv->fence) {
             close (pPriv->fd);
diff --git a/os/utils.c b/os/utils.c
index fb20da755..608ee6ab0 100644
--- a/os/utils.c
+++ b/os/utils.c
@@ -2071,3 +2071,27 @@ FormatUInt64Hex(uint64_t num, char *string)
 
     string[len] = '\0';
 }
+
+/* Move a file descriptor out of the way of our select mask; this
+ * is useful for file descriptors which will never appear in the
+ * select mask to avoid reducing the number of clients that can
+ * connect to the server
+ */
+int
+os_move_fd(int fd)
+{
+    int newfd;
+
+#ifdef F_DUPFD_CLOEXEC
+    newfd = fcntl(fd, F_DUPFD_CLOEXEC, MAXCLIENTS);
+#else
+    newfd = fcntl(fd, F_DUPFD, MAXCLIENTS);
+#endif
+    if (newfd < 0)
+        return fd;
+#ifndef F_DUPFD_CLOEXEC
+    fcntl(newfd, F_SETFD, FD_CLOEXEC);
+#endif
+    close(fd);
+    return newfd;
+}