diff --git a/src/liblwevent/400_signalfd.c b/src/liblwevent/400_signalfd.c
index 0c880e6..865d94d 100644
--- a/src/liblwevent/400_signalfd.c
+++ b/src/liblwevent/400_signalfd.c
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ lwevent_signalcb lwevent_signalfd_getcb(const struct lwevent_signal* si)
 
 int lwevent_signalfd_setsigs(struct lwevent_signal* si, const sigset_t* mask)
 {
-    sigset_t mnew;
+    sigset_t mnew, munmask, mmask;
 
     mnew = *mask;
     sigdelset(&mnew, SIGBUS);
@@ -104,7 +104,12 @@ int lwevent_signalfd_setsigs(struct lwevent_signal* si, const sigset_t* mask)
     sigdelset(&mnew, SIGSEGV);
 
     if(TEMP_FAILURE_RETRY( signalfd(lwevent_get_fd(si->ev), &mnew) )) return -1;
+
+    /* unmask old signals, mask new ones */
+    TEMP_FAILURE_RETRY( sigprocmask(SIG_UNBLOCK, &si->mask) );
     si->mask = mnew;
+    TEMP_FAILURE_RETRY( sigprocmask(SIG_BLOCK, &si->mask) );
+
     return 0;
 }
 
@@ -121,6 +126,8 @@ void lwevent_signalfd_close(struct lwevent_signal* si)
 {
     if(!si) return;
 
+    TEMP_FAILURE_RETRY( sigprocmask(SIG_UNBLOCK, &si->mask) );
+
     lwevent_free(si->ev);
     free(si);
 }