diff --git a/env_universal_common.cpp b/env_universal_common.cpp
index 88ec7749b..fd188e8a3 100644
--- a/env_universal_common.cpp
+++ b/env_universal_common.cpp
@@ -568,7 +568,7 @@ bool env_universal_t::open_temporary_file(const wcstring &directory, wcstring *o
         int result_fd = -1;
         char *narrow_str = wcs2str(tmp_name_template.c_str());
 #if HAVE_MKOSTEMP
-        result_fd = mkostemp(narrow_str, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_EXCL | O_TRUNC | O_CLOEXEC);
+        result_fd = mkostemp(narrow_str, O_CLOEXEC);
         if (result_fd >= 0)
         {
             tmp_name = str2wcstring(narrow_str);
diff --git a/history.cpp b/history.cpp
index a3ef0ee90..abbfa5e84 100644
--- a/history.cpp
+++ b/history.cpp
@@ -1376,7 +1376,7 @@ bool history_t::save_internal_via_rewrite()
         {
             char *narrow_str = wcs2str(tmp_name_template.c_str());
 #if HAVE_MKOSTEMP
-            out_fd = mkostemp(narrow_str, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_EXCL | O_TRUNC | O_CLOEXEC);
+            out_fd = mkostemp(narrow_str, O_CLOEXEC);
             if (out_fd >= 0)
             {
                 tmp_name = str2wcstring(narrow_str);