--- a/clients/upsmon.c	2022-04-23 04:56:06.000000000 -0700
+++ b/clients/upsmon.c	2022-09-04 13:21:28.072170502 -0700
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 #include <sys/socket.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
+#include <spawn.h>
 
 #include "nut_stdint.h"
 #include "upsclient.h"
@@ -1874,6 +1875,23 @@
 static void runparent(int fd)
 	__attribute__((noreturn));
 
+static int runcmd(const char *cmd)
+{
+	int	sret, status;
+	pid_t pid;
+	char *argv[] = {cmd, NULL};
+	char *env[] = {NULL};
+
+	/* TODO support tokenizing cmd */
+	sret = posix_spawn(&pid, cmd, NULL, NULL, argv, env);
+	if (sret != 0)
+		/* parent */
+		exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
+
+	sret = waitpid(pid, &status, 0);
+	return status;
+}
+
 static void runparent(int fd)
 {
 	ssize_t	ret;
@@ -1907,7 +1925,7 @@
 	/* have to do this here - child is unprivileged */
 	set_pdflag();
 
-	sret = system(shutdowncmd);
+	sret = runcmd(shutdowncmd);
 
 	if (sret != 0)
 		upslogx(LOG_ERR, "parent: Unable to call shutdown command: %s",