diff --git a/src/libstore/unix/build/local-derivation-goal.cc b/src/libstore/unix/build/local-derivation-goal.cc
index d3482df17..01a133766 100644
--- a/src/libstore/unix/build/local-derivation-goal.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/unix/build/local-derivation-goal.cc
@@ -1986,7 +1986,7 @@ void LocalDerivationGoal::runChild()
             throw SysError("changing into '%1%'", tmpDir);
 
         /* Close all other file descriptors. */
-        unix::closeMostFDs({STDIN_FILENO, STDOUT_FILENO, STDERR_FILENO});
+        unix::closeExtraFDs();
 
 #if __linux__
         linux::setPersonality(drv->platform);
diff --git a/src/libutil/file-descriptor.hh b/src/libutil/file-descriptor.hh
index 551e51adc..b54bab83c 100644
--- a/src/libutil/file-descriptor.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/file-descriptor.hh
@@ -154,10 +154,10 @@ public:
 namespace unix {
 
 /**
- * Close all file descriptors except those listed in the given set.
+ * Close all file descriptors except stdio fds (ie 0, 1, 2).
  * Good practice in child processes.
  */
-void closeMostFDs(const std::set<Descriptor> & exceptions);
+void closeExtraFDs();
 
 /**
  * Set the close-on-exec flag for the given file descriptor.
diff --git a/src/libutil/unix/file-descriptor.cc b/src/libutil/unix/file-descriptor.cc
index a3af1623f..f867199c0 100644
--- a/src/libutil/unix/file-descriptor.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/unix/file-descriptor.cc
@@ -120,14 +120,35 @@ void Pipe::create()
 
 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
-void unix::closeMostFDs(const std::set<int> & exceptions)
+#if __linux__ || __FreeBSD__
+// In future we can use a syscall wrapper, but at the moment musl and older glibc version don't support it.
+static int unix_close_range(unsigned int first, unsigned int last, int flags)
 {
+    return syscall(SYS_close_range, first, last, (unsigned int)flags);
+}
+#endif
+
+void unix::closeExtraFDs()
+{
+    constexpr int MAX_KEPT_FD = 2;
+    static_assert(std::max({STDIN_FILENO, STDOUT_FILENO, STDERR_FILENO}) == MAX_KEPT_FD);
+
+#if __linux__ || __FreeBSD__
+    // first try to close_range everything we don't care about. if this
+    // returns an error with these parameters we're running on a kernel
+    // that does not implement close_range (i.e. pre 5.9) and fall back
+    // to the old method. we should remove that though, in some future.
+    if (unix_close_range(MAX_KEPT_FD + 1, ~0U, 0) == 0) {
+        return;
+    }
+#endif
+
 #if __linux__
     try {
         for (auto & s : std::filesystem::directory_iterator{"/proc/self/fd"}) {
             checkInterrupt();
             auto fd = std::stoi(s.path().filename());
-            if (!exceptions.count(fd)) {
+            if (fd > MAX_KEPT_FD) {
                 debug("closing leaked FD %d", fd);
                 close(fd);
             }
@@ -142,9 +163,8 @@ void unix::closeMostFDs(const std::set<int> & exceptions)
 #if HAVE_SYSCONF
     maxFD = sysconf(_SC_OPEN_MAX);
 #endif
-    for (int fd = 0; fd < maxFD; ++fd)
-        if (!exceptions.count(fd))
-            close(fd); /* ignore result */
+    for (int fd = MAX_KEPT_FD + 1; fd < maxFD; ++fd)
+        close(fd); /* ignore result */
 }