diff --git a/linux-user/syscall.c b/linux-user/syscall.c
index b27a6552aa..ef53feb5ab 100644
--- a/linux-user/syscall.c
+++ b/linux-user/syscall.c
@@ -8260,16 +8260,22 @@ static int do_openat(CPUArchState *cpu_env, int dirfd, const char *pathname, int
         char filename[PATH_MAX];
         int fd, r;
 
-        /* create temporary file to map stat to */
-        tmpdir = getenv("TMPDIR");
-        if (!tmpdir)
-            tmpdir = "/tmp";
-        snprintf(filename, sizeof(filename), "%s/qemu-open.XXXXXX", tmpdir);
-        fd = mkstemp(filename);
+        fd = memfd_create("qemu-open", 0);
         if (fd < 0) {
-            return fd;
+            if (errno != ENOSYS) {
+                return fd;
+            }
+            /* create temporary file to map stat to */
+            tmpdir = getenv("TMPDIR");
+            if (!tmpdir)
+                tmpdir = "/tmp";
+            snprintf(filename, sizeof(filename), "%s/qemu-open.XXXXXX", tmpdir);
+            fd = mkstemp(filename);
+            if (fd < 0) {
+                return fd;
+            }
+            unlink(filename);
         }
-        unlink(filename);
 
         if ((r = fake_open->fill(cpu_env, fd))) {
             int e = errno;