diff --git a/lib/cpp/src/server/TNonblockingServer.cpp b/lib/cpp/src/server/TNonblockingServer.cpp
index 26e97c967..eb071a903 100644
--- a/lib/cpp/src/server/TNonblockingServer.cpp
+++ b/lib/cpp/src/server/TNonblockingServer.cpp
@@ -570,12 +570,12 @@ void TNonblockingServer::handleEvent(int fd, short which) {
       nTotalConnectionsDropped_++;
       if (overloadAction_ == T_OVERLOAD_CLOSE_ON_ACCEPT) {
         close(clientSocket);
-        continue;
+        return;
       } else if (overloadAction_ == T_OVERLOAD_DRAIN_TASK_QUEUE) {
         if (!drainPendingTask()) {
           // Nothing left to discard, so we drop connection instead.
           close(clientSocket);
-          continue;
+          return;
         }
       }
     }
@@ -718,6 +718,13 @@ void TNonblockingServer::createNotificationPipe() {
     GlobalOutput.perror("TNonblockingServer::createNotificationPipe ", errno);
       throw TException("can't create notification pipe");
   }
+  int flags;
+  if ((flags = fcntl(notificationPipeFDs_[0], F_GETFL, 0)) < 0 ||
+      fcntl(notificationPipeFDs_[0], F_SETFL, flags | O_NONBLOCK) < 0) {
+    close(notificationPipeFDs_[0]);
+    close(notificationPipeFDs_[1]);
+    throw TException("TNonblockingServer::createNotificationPipe() O_NONBLOCK");
+  }
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/lib/cpp/src/server/TNonblockingServer.h b/lib/cpp/src/server/TNonblockingServer.h
index 2650dd119..b54764966 100644
--- a/lib/cpp/src/server/TNonblockingServer.h
+++ b/lib/cpp/src/server/TNonblockingServer.h
@@ -722,13 +722,17 @@ class TConnection {
    */
   static void taskHandler(int fd, short /* which */, void* /* v */) {
     TConnection* connection;
-    if (read(fd, (void*)&connection, sizeof(TConnection*))
-        != sizeof(TConnection*)) {
-      GlobalOutput.perror("TConnection::taskHandler read failed, resource leak", errno);
-      return;
+    ssize_t nBytes;
+    while ((nBytes = read(fd, (void*)&connection, sizeof(TConnection*)))
+        == sizeof(TConnection*)) {
+      connection->transition();
+    }
+    if (nBytes > 0) {
+      throw TException("TConnection::taskHandler unexpected partial read");
+    }
+    if (errno != EWOULDBLOCK && errno != EAGAIN) {
+      GlobalOutput.perror("TConnection::taskHandler read failed, resource leak", errno);
     }
-
-    connection->transition();
   }
 
   /**