diff --git a/client/cmd/service_allow_group_unix.go b/client/cmd/service_allow_group_unix.go
index 63d724ae9..c06e18dd8 100644
--- a/client/cmd/service_allow_group_unix.go
+++ b/client/cmd/service_allow_group_unix.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ package cmd
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"net"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strconv"
@@ -21,6 +22,27 @@ const (
 	restrictedSocketMode os.FileMode = 0660
 )
 
+// umaskOwnerOnly masks every permission bit except the owner's, so a file
+// created under it is 0600 whatever the process umask happens to be.
+const umaskOwnerOnly = 0o177
+
+// listenUnixPrivate binds a Unix socket that only its owner can connect to,
+// whatever umask the service manager started the daemon with. applySocketAccess
+// widens it afterwards to exactly what the configuration asks for.
+//
+// The umask is process-wide, so it is restored before returning and the window
+// is kept to the bind itself. Nothing else creates files during daemon startup:
+// this runs before the server and its goroutines exist.
+func listenUnixPrivate(address string) (net.Listener, error) {
+	previous := syscall.Umask(umaskOwnerOnly)
+	listener, err := net.Listen("unix", address)
+	syscall.Umask(previous)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return listener, nil
+}
+
 // resolveAllowGroup resolves one --allow-group value to a "gid:<id>"
 // principal. A numeric value, with or without the prefix, is the GID itself;
 // anything else is a group name resolved through NSS, so groups that only
diff --git a/client/cmd/service_allow_group_unix_test.go b/client/cmd/service_allow_group_unix_test.go
index 0a7ea1bde..6e9310289 100644
--- a/client/cmd/service_allow_group_unix_test.go
+++ b/client/cmd/service_allow_group_unix_test.go
@@ -157,6 +157,32 @@ func TestApplySocketAccess(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
+// The kernel checks a Unix socket's mode at connect(), not at accept(), so a
+// socket that is briefly world-writable can be connected to before the daemon
+// narrows it, and the caller stays connected afterwards. Binding under a
+// restrictive umask closes that window whatever umask the service manager used.
+func TestListenUnixPrivate_IgnoresAPermissiveUmask(t *testing.T) {
+	previous := syscall.Umask(0)
+	t.Cleanup(func() { syscall.Umask(previous) })
+
+	dir, err := os.MkdirTemp("", "nb-sock")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	t.Cleanup(func() { assert.NoError(t, os.RemoveAll(dir)) })
+
+	path := filepath.Join(dir, "d.sock")
+	listener, err := listenUnixPrivate(path)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	t.Cleanup(func() { assert.NoError(t, listener.Close()) })
+
+	assert.Equal(t, os.FileMode(0600), socketMode(t, path),
+		"the socket must be owner-only as bound, before any restriction is applied")
+
+	// And the process umask is left as it was found.
+	restored := syscall.Umask(0)
+	syscall.Umask(restored)
+	assert.Equal(t, 0, restored, "listenUnixPrivate must restore the umask it changed")
+}
+
 func listenTestSocket(t *testing.T) string {
 	t.Helper()
 
diff --git a/client/cmd/service_allow_group_windows.go b/client/cmd/service_allow_group_windows.go
index f108f3897..0eb12bbcb 100644
--- a/client/cmd/service_allow_group_windows.go
+++ b/client/cmd/service_allow_group_windows.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ package cmd
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"net"
 
 	"golang.org/x/sys/windows"
 
@@ -47,6 +48,14 @@ func checkAllowGroupSet([]string) error { return nil }
 // afterwards. See allowedPipeSDDL.
 func applySocketAccess(string, []string) error { return nil }
 
+// listenUnixPrivate binds a Unix socket. Windows has no umask, and a Unix
+// socket there carries no mode the daemon could narrow, so there is nothing to
+// do beyond binding it. A restriction on this transport is refused before it
+// gets here: see listenOnAddress.
+func listenUnixPrivate(address string) (net.Listener, error) {
+	return net.Listen("unix", address)
+}
+
 // allowedPipeSDDL renders the security descriptor for the daemon control pipe.
 // An empty principal list yields the descriptor that lets any local caller
 // connect.
diff --git a/client/cmd/service_socket.go b/client/cmd/service_socket.go
index bf1393afe..080b8893c 100644
--- a/client/cmd/service_socket.go
+++ b/client/cmd/service_socket.go
@@ -50,6 +50,18 @@ func listenOnAddress(addr string, allowed []string) (*socketListener, error) {
 
 	if network == "unix" {
 		removeStaleUnixSocket(address)
+
+		// A Unix socket accepts connections the moment it is bound, and the
+		// kernel checks its mode at connect() rather than at accept(). Creating
+		// it owner-only closes the window between the bind and applySocketAccess:
+		// without this, a permissive umask leaves the socket open to everybody
+		// for that interval, and a caller that got in stays connected after the
+		// mode is narrowed.
+		listener, err := listenUnixPrivate(address)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		return &socketListener{Listener: listener, network: network, address: address}, nil
 	}
 
 	listener, err := net.Listen(network, address)