diff --git a/src/coredump/coredump-backtrace.c b/src/coredump/coredump-backtrace.c
index 4e223e5220..4d80cae24c 100644
--- a/src/coredump/coredump-backtrace.c
+++ b/src/coredump/coredump-backtrace.c
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ int coredump_backtrace(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 
         assert(argc >= 2);
 
+        log_setup();
         log_debug("Processing backtrace on stdin...");
 
         iovw = iovw_new();
diff --git a/src/coredump/coredump.c b/src/coredump/coredump.c
index 6e110db630..c29976e281 100644
--- a/src/coredump/coredump.c
+++ b/src/coredump/coredump.c
@@ -13,9 +13,13 @@
 static int run(int argc, char *argv[]) {
         int r;
 
+        /* When running as backtrace mode, it is not necessary to use kmsg, not necessary to disable coredump
+         * from the command, and unexpectedly passed file descriptors can be silently ignored. */
+        if (streq_ptr(argv[1], "--backtrace"))
+                return coredump_backtrace(argc, argv);
+
         /* First, log to a safe place, since we don't know what crashed and it might
          * be journald which we'd rather not log to then. */
-
         log_set_target_and_open(LOG_TARGET_KMSG);
 
         /* Make sure we never enter a loop */
@@ -25,14 +29,11 @@ static int run(int argc, char *argv[]) {
         if (r < 0)
                 return log_error_errno(r, "Failed to determine the number of file descriptors: %m");
 
-        /* If we got an fd passed, we are running in coredumpd mode. Otherwise we
-         * are invoked from the kernel as coredump handler. */
-        if (r == 0) {
-                if (streq_ptr(argv[1], "--backtrace"))
-                        return coredump_backtrace(argc, argv);
-                else
-                        return coredump_kernel_helper(argc, argv);
-        } else if (r == 1)
+        /* If we got an fd passed, we are running in coredumpd mode. Otherwise we are invoked from the
+         * kernel as coredump handler. */
+        if (r == 0)
+                return coredump_kernel_helper(argc, argv);
+        if (r == 1)
                 return coredump_receive(SD_LISTEN_FDS_START);
 
         return log_error_errno(SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(EINVAL),