diff --git a/WHATS_NEW b/WHATS_NEW
index e1674e21f..e92c01a2a 100644
--- a/WHATS_NEW
+++ b/WHATS_NEW
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 Version 2.02.120 -
 ===============================
+  Fix some libdaemon socket creation and reuse error paths.
   Daemons (libdaemon) support exit on idle also in non-systemd environment.
   Provide make dist and make rpm targets
   Configure lvm.conf for use_lvmetad and use_lvmpolld.
diff --git a/libdaemon/server/daemon-server.c b/libdaemon/server/daemon-server.c
index 5b1aff1c5..e1a9da9c5 100644
--- a/libdaemon/server/daemon-server.c
+++ b/libdaemon/server/daemon-server.c
@@ -261,12 +261,12 @@ static int _open_socket(daemon_state s)
 		}
 
 		/* Socket already exists. If it's stale, remove it. */
-		if (stat(sockaddr.sun_path, &buf)) {
+		if (lstat(sockaddr.sun_path, &buf)) {
 			perror("stat failed");
 			goto error;
 		}
 
-		if (S_ISSOCK(buf.st_mode)) {
+		if (!S_ISSOCK(buf.st_mode)) {
 			fprintf(stderr, "%s: not a socket\n", sockaddr.sun_path);
 			goto error;
 		}
@@ -595,7 +595,7 @@ void daemon_start(daemon_state s)
 	}
 
 	/* Set Close-on-exec */
-	if (fcntl(s.socket_fd, F_SETFD, 1))
+	if (!failed && fcntl(s.socket_fd, F_SETFD, 1))
 		fprintf(stderr, "setting CLOEXEC on socket fd %d failed: %s\n", s.socket_fd, strerror(errno));
 
 	/* Signal parent, letting them know we are ready to go. */