diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/fhandler_socket.cc b/winsup/cygwin/fhandler_socket.cc
index 7a6dbdc41..185fd51ff 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/fhandler_socket.cc
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/fhandler_socket.cc
@@ -496,7 +496,7 @@ fhandler_socket::af_local_set_secret (char *buf)
 /* Maximum number of concurrently opened sockets from all Cygwin processes
    per session.  Note that shared sockets (through dup/fork/exec) are
    counted as one socket. */
-#define NUM_SOCKS       (32768 / sizeof (wsa_event))
+#define NUM_SOCKS       2048U
 
 #define LOCK_EVENTS	\
   if (wsock_mtx && \
@@ -623,7 +623,14 @@ fhandler_socket::init_events ()
       NtClose (wsock_mtx);
       return false;
     }
-  wsock_events = search_wsa_event_slot (new_serial_number);
+  if (!(wsock_events = search_wsa_event_slot (new_serial_number)));
+    {
+      set_errno (ENOBUFS);
+      NtClose (wsock_evt);
+      NtClose (wsock_mtx);
+      return false;
+    }
+
   /* sock type not yet set here. */
   if (pc.dev == FH_UDP || pc.dev == FH_DGRAM)
     wsock_events->events = FD_WRITE;