diff --git a/src/basic/memfd-util.c b/src/basic/memfd-util.c
index 96024bc485..285abd41d3 100644
--- a/src/basic/memfd-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/memfd-util.c
@@ -20,6 +20,22 @@
 #include "string-util.h"
 #include "utf8.h"
 
+int memfd_create_wrapper(const char *name, unsigned mode) {
+        unsigned mode_compat;
+        int mfd;
+
+        mfd = RET_NERRNO(memfd_create(name, mode));
+        if (mfd != -EINVAL)
+                return mfd;
+
+        mode_compat = mode & ~(MFD_EXEC | MFD_NOEXEC_SEAL);
+
+        if (mode == mode_compat)
+                return mfd;
+
+        return RET_NERRNO(memfd_create(name, mode_compat));
+}
+
 int memfd_new(const char *name) {
         _cleanup_free_ char *g = NULL;
 
@@ -49,7 +65,7 @@ int memfd_new(const char *name) {
                 }
         }
 
-        return RET_NERRNO(memfd_create(name, MFD_ALLOW_SEALING | MFD_CLOEXEC));
+        return memfd_create_wrapper(name, MFD_ALLOW_SEALING | MFD_CLOEXEC | MFD_NOEXEC_SEAL);
 }
 
 int memfd_map(int fd, uint64_t offset, size_t size, void **p) {
diff --git a/src/basic/memfd-util.h b/src/basic/memfd-util.h
index d6da268da0..0fe8e3a3c4 100644
--- a/src/basic/memfd-util.h
+++ b/src/basic/memfd-util.h
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
 
+int memfd_create_wrapper(const char *name, unsigned mode);
+
 int memfd_new(const char *name);
 int memfd_new_and_map(const char *name, size_t sz, void **p);
 int memfd_new_and_seal(const char *name, const void *data, size_t sz);
diff --git a/src/basic/missing_mman.h b/src/basic/missing_mman.h
index 4a109128d0..f48c436dca 100644
--- a/src/basic/missing_mman.h
+++ b/src/basic/missing_mman.h
@@ -10,3 +10,11 @@
 #ifndef MFD_CLOEXEC
 #define MFD_CLOEXEC 0x0001U
 #endif
+
+#ifndef MFD_NOEXEC_SEAL
+#define MFD_NOEXEC_SEAL 0x0008U
+#endif
+
+#ifndef MFD_EXEC
+#define MFD_EXEC 0x0010U
+#endif
diff --git a/src/home/homed-home.c b/src/home/homed-home.c
index 413fcf1773..6e9cfd2776 100644
--- a/src/home/homed-home.c
+++ b/src/home/homed-home.c
@@ -23,7 +23,9 @@
 #include "home-util.h"
 #include "homed-home-bus.h"
 #include "homed-home.h"
+#include "memfd-util.h"
 #include "missing_magic.h"
+#include "missing_mman.h"
 #include "missing_syscall.h"
 #include "mkdir.h"
 #include "path-util.h"
@@ -1175,9 +1177,9 @@ static int home_start_work(Home *h, const char *verb, UserRecord *hr, UserRecord
 
         log_debug("Sending to worker: %s", formatted);
 
-        stdout_fd = memfd_create("homework-stdout", MFD_CLOEXEC);
+        stdout_fd = memfd_create_wrapper("homework-stdout", MFD_CLOEXEC | MFD_NOEXEC_SEAL);
         if (stdout_fd < 0)
-                return -errno;
+                return stdout_fd;
 
         r = safe_fork_full("(sd-homework)",
                            (int[]) { stdin_fd, stdout_fd, STDERR_FILENO },
diff --git a/src/shared/data-fd-util.c b/src/shared/data-fd-util.c
index 0dbf89293f..4831682a02 100644
--- a/src/shared/data-fd-util.c
+++ b/src/shared/data-fd-util.c
@@ -339,7 +339,8 @@ finish:
 
 int memfd_clone_fd(int fd, const char *name, int mode) {
         _cleanup_close_ int mfd = -EBADF;
-        bool ro;
+        struct stat st;
+        bool ro, exec;
         int r;
 
         /* Creates a clone of a regular file in a memfd. Unlike copy_data_fd() this returns strictly a memfd
@@ -351,14 +352,19 @@ int memfd_clone_fd(int fd, const char *name, int mode) {
         assert(IN_SET(mode & O_ACCMODE, O_RDONLY, O_RDWR));
         assert((mode & ~(O_RDONLY|O_RDWR|O_CLOEXEC)) == 0);
 
-        ro = (mode & O_ACCMODE) == O_RDONLY;
-
-        mfd = memfd_create(name,
-                           ((FLAGS_SET(mode, O_CLOEXEC) || ro) ? MFD_CLOEXEC : 0) |
-                           (ro ? MFD_ALLOW_SEALING : 0));
-        if (mfd < 0)
+        if (fstat(fd, &st) < 0)
                 return -errno;
 
+        ro = (mode & O_ACCMODE) == O_RDONLY;
+        exec = st.st_mode & 0111;
+
+        mfd = memfd_create_wrapper(name,
+                                   ((FLAGS_SET(mode, O_CLOEXEC) || ro) ? MFD_CLOEXEC : 0) |
+                                   (ro ? MFD_ALLOW_SEALING : 0) |
+                                   (exec ? MFD_EXEC : MFD_NOEXEC_SEAL));
+        if (mfd < 0)
+                return mfd;
+
         r = copy_bytes(fd, mfd, UINT64_MAX, COPY_REFLINK);
         if (r < 0)
                 return r;
diff --git a/src/shared/serialize.c b/src/shared/serialize.c
index cd48286355..9d1a21360f 100644
--- a/src/shared/serialize.c
+++ b/src/shared/serialize.c
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #include "env-util.h"
 #include "escape.h"
 #include "fileio.h"
+#include "memfd-util.h"
 #include "missing_mman.h"
 #include "missing_syscall.h"
 #include "parse-util.h"
@@ -197,7 +198,7 @@ int deserialize_environment(const char *value, char ***list) {
 int open_serialization_fd(const char *ident) {
         int fd;
 
-        fd = memfd_create(ident, MFD_CLOEXEC);
+        fd = memfd_create_wrapper(ident, MFD_CLOEXEC | MFD_NOEXEC_SEAL);
         if (fd < 0) {
                 const char *path;