2 files changed, 9 insertions, 5 deletions

diff --git a/plugins/popen.c b/plugins/popen.c
index 04eb3881..062cf274 100644
--- a/plugins/popen.c
+++ b/plugins/popen.c
@@ -243,8 +243,12 @@ static int openmax = 0;
 void
 popen_timeout_alarm_handler (int signo)
 {
+        int fh;
         if (signo == SIGALRM) {
-                kill (childpid[fileno (child_process)], SIGKILL);
+                fh=fileno (child_process);
+                if(fh >= 0){
+                        kill (childpid[fh], SIGKILL);
+                }
                 printf (_("CRITICAL - Plugin timed out after %d seconds\n"),
                                                 timeout_interval);
                 exit (STATE_CRITICAL);
diff --git a/plugins/popen.h b/plugins/popen.h
index 1f4e413a..c2a79df0 100644
--- a/plugins/popen.h
+++ b/plugins/popen.h
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ int spclose (FILE *);
 RETSIGTYPE popen_timeout_alarm_handler (int);
 
 extern unsigned int timeout_interval;
-pid_t *childpid;
-int *child_stderr_array;
-FILE *child_process;
-FILE *child_stderr;
+pid_t *childpid=NULL;
+int *child_stderr_array=NULL;
+FILE *child_process=NULL;
+FILE *child_stderr=NULL;