diff -U 3 -r nut-2.6.0.orig/common/common.c nut-2.6.0/common/common.c
--- nut-2.6.0.orig/common/common.c	2011-02-08 12:12:25 +0200
+++ nut-2.6.0/common/common.c	2011-02-08 12:33:15 +0200
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 	int	nut_debug_level = 0;
 	int	nut_log_level = 0;
 	static	int	upslog_flags = UPSLOG_STDERR;
+	static	int	null_fd = -1;
 
 static void xbit_set(int *val, int flag)
 {
@@ -114,32 +115,29 @@
 /* close ttys and become a daemon */
 void background(void)
 {
-	int	pid;
+	int fd;
+	pid_t   pid;
 
 	if ((pid = fork()) < 0)
 		fatal_with_errno(EXIT_FAILURE, "Unable to enter background");
 
-	xbit_set(&upslog_flags, UPSLOG_SYSLOG);
-	xbit_clear(&upslog_flags, UPSLOG_STDERR);
-
-	close(0);
-	close(1);
-	close(2);
-
 	if (pid != 0)
 		_exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);		/* parent */
 
 	/* child */
+	xbit_set(&upslog_flags, UPSLOG_SYSLOG);
+	xbit_clear(&upslog_flags, UPSLOG_STDERR);
 
 	/* make fds 0-2 point somewhere defined */
-	if (open("/dev/null", O_RDWR) != 0)
+	if ((null_fd < 0) && ((null_fd = open("/dev/null", O_RDWR)) < 0))
 		fatal_with_errno(EXIT_FAILURE, "open /dev/null");
 
-	if (dup(0) == -1)
-		fatal_with_errno(EXIT_FAILURE, "dup");
-
-	if (dup(0) == -1)
-		fatal_with_errno(EXIT_FAILURE, "dup");
+	for (fd = 0; fd<= 2; ++fd)
+		if ((null_fd != fd) && (dup2(null_fd, fd) < 0))
+			fatal_with_errno(EXIT_FAILURE, "dup2 /dev/null");
+	if ((null_fd > 2) && (close(null_fd) < 0))
+		fatal_with_errno(EXIT_FAILURE, "close /dev/null");
+	null_fd = -1;
 
 #ifdef HAVE_SETSID
 	setsid();		/* make a new session to dodge signals */
@@ -153,8 +151,11 @@
 {
 	struct passwd *r;
 	errno = 0;
-	if ((r = getpwnam(name)))
+	if ((r = getpwnam(name))) {
+		if (!geteuid() && initgroups(r->pw_name, r->pw_gid) == -1)
+			fatal_with_errno(EXIT_FAILURE, "initgroups");
 		return r;
+	}
 
 	/* POSIX does not specify that "user not found" is an error, so
 	   some implementations of getpwnam() do not set errno when this
@@ -178,9 +179,6 @@
 		if (seteuid(0))
 			fatal_with_errno(EXIT_FAILURE, "getuid gave 0, but seteuid(0) failed");
 
-	if (initgroups(pw->pw_name, pw->pw_gid) == -1)
-		fatal_with_errno(EXIT_FAILURE, "initgroups");
-
 	if (setgid(pw->pw_gid) == -1)
 		fatal_with_errno(EXIT_FAILURE, "setgid");
 
@@ -191,6 +189,11 @@
 /* drop down into a directory and throw away pointers to the old path */
 void chroot_start(const char *path)
 {
+	tzset();
+	
+	if ((null_fd = open("/dev/null", O_RDWR)) < 0)
+		fatal_with_errno(EXIT_FAILURE, "open /dev/null");
+
 	if (chdir(path))
 		fatal_with_errno(EXIT_FAILURE, "chdir(%s)", path);