diff --git a/src/main/java/jnr/posix/SpawnFileAction.java b/src/main/java/jnr/posix/SpawnFileAction.java
index c6b945b..1657b3f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/jnr/posix/SpawnFileAction.java
+++ b/src/main/java/jnr/posix/SpawnFileAction.java
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@
 
 import jnr.ffi.Pointer;
 
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.nio.CharBuffer;
+import java.nio.charset.Charset;
+import java.nio.charset.CharsetEncoder;
+
 public abstract class SpawnFileAction {
     abstract boolean act(POSIX posix, Pointer nativeFileActions);
 
@@ -38,16 +43,44 @@ private static final class Open extends SpawnFileAction {
         final String path;
         final int fd;
         final int flags, mode;
+        final ByteBuffer nativePath;
 
         public Open(String path, int fd, int flags, int mode) {
             this.path = path;
             this.fd = fd;
             this.flags = flags;
             this.mode = mode;
+            this.nativePath = defensiveCopy(path);
+        }
+
+        private ByteBuffer defensiveCopy(String path) {
+            /*
+            This logic allocates a direct ByteBuffer to use for the path in order to work around systems that have not
+            patched CVE-2014-4043, in which older glibc versions do not make a defensive copy of the file path passed to
+            posix_spawn_file_actions_addopen. The buffer may be freed by the caller before it can be used in an
+            eventual posix_spawn call.
+
+            See https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1983750 for a RHEL version of this issue.
+            */
+
+            // determine encoded byte array length
+            CharsetEncoder encoder = Charset.defaultCharset().newEncoder();
+            int bpc = (int) encoder.maxBytesPerChar();
+            int size = (path.length() + 1) * bpc;
+
+            // transcode to native buffer
+            ByteBuffer nativePath = ByteBuffer.allocateDirect(size);
+            encoder.encode(CharBuffer.wrap(path), nativePath, true);
+            nativePath.flip();
+
+            // null terminate
+            nativePath.limit(nativePath.limit() + bpc);
+
+            return nativePath;
         }
 
         final boolean act(POSIX posix, Pointer nativeFileActions) {
-            return ((UnixLibC) posix.libc()).posix_spawn_file_actions_addopen(nativeFileActions, fd, path, flags, mode) == 0;
+            return ((UnixLibC) posix.libc()).posix_spawn_file_actions_addopen(nativeFileActions, fd, nativePath, flags, mode) == 0;
         }
 
         public String toString() {
diff --git a/src/main/java/jnr/posix/UnixLibC.java b/src/main/java/jnr/posix/UnixLibC.java
index fe40129..89666be 100644
--- a/src/main/java/jnr/posix/UnixLibC.java
+++ b/src/main/java/jnr/posix/UnixLibC.java
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package jnr.posix;
 
 import jnr.ffi.Pointer;
+import jnr.ffi.annotations.Direct;
 import jnr.ffi.annotations.In;
 import jnr.ffi.annotations.Out;
 import jnr.ffi.byref.ByReference;
@@ -9,6 +10,8 @@
 import jnr.ffi.byref.ShortByReference;
 import jnr.ffi.types.pid_t;
 
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+
 public interface UnixLibC extends LibC {
     public int posix_spawn(@Out ByReference pid, @In CharSequence path, @In Pointer fileActions,
                            @In Pointer attr, @In CharSequence[] argv, @In CharSequence[] envp);
@@ -19,8 +22,15 @@ public int posix_spawnp(@Out ByReference pid, @In CharSequence path, @In Pointer
     public int posix_spawn_file_actions_init(Pointer fileActions);
     public int posix_spawn_file_actions_destroy(Pointer fileActions);
     public int posix_spawn_file_actions_addclose(Pointer fileActions, int filedes);
+
+    /**
+     * @deprecated due to CVE-2014-4043 (https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1983750)
+     */
+    @Deprecated
     public int posix_spawn_file_actions_addopen(Pointer fileActions, int filedes, CharSequence path,
                                                 int oflag, int mode);
+    public int posix_spawn_file_actions_addopen(Pointer fileActions, int filedes, @Direct ByteBuffer path,
+                                                int oflag, int mode);
     public int posix_spawn_file_actions_adddup2(Pointer fileActions, int filedes, int newfiledes);
     public int posix_spawnattr_init(Pointer attr);
     public int posix_spawnattr_destroy(Pointer attr);