2 files changed, 5 insertions, 3 deletions

diff --git a/log.c b/log.c
index e68b84a20..6c596414b 100644
--- a/log.c
+++ b/log.c
@@ -343,7 +343,7 @@ log_change_level(LogLevel new_log_level)
 int
 log_is_on_stderr(void)
 {
-        return log_on_stderr;
+        return log_on_stderr && log_stderr_fd == STDERR_FILENO;
 }
 
 /* redirect what would usually get written to stderr to specified file */
diff --git a/ssh.c b/ssh.c
index 314dd528d..af39e724f 100644
--- a/ssh.c
+++ b/ssh.c
@@ -1392,7 +1392,7 @@ static void
 control_persist_detach(void)
 {
         pid_t pid;
-        int devnull;
+        int devnull, keep_stderr;
 
         debug("%s: backgrounding master process", __func__);
 
@@ -1423,8 +1423,10 @@ control_persist_detach(void)
                 error("%s: open(\"/dev/null\"): %s", __func__,
                     strerror(errno));
         } else {
+                keep_stderr = log_is_on_stderr() && debug_flag;
                 if (dup2(devnull, STDIN_FILENO) == -1 ||
-                    dup2(devnull, STDOUT_FILENO) == -1)
+                    dup2(devnull, STDOUT_FILENO) == -1 ||
+                    (!keep_stderr && dup2(devnull, STDERR_FILENO) == -1))
                         error("%s: dup2: %s", __func__, strerror(errno));
                 if (devnull > STDERR_FILENO)
                         close(devnull);