diff --git a/src/XrdXrootd/XrdXrootdPrepare.cc b/src/XrdXrootd/XrdXrootdPrepare.cc
index 94700936228..581c72d676c 100644
--- a/src/XrdXrootd/XrdXrootdPrepare.cc
+++ b/src/XrdXrootd/XrdXrootdPrepare.cc
@@ -258,14 +258,19 @@ int XrdXrootdPrepare::Open(const char *reqid, int &fsz)
    strcpy(path, (const char *)LogDir);
    strcpy(path+LogDirLen, reqid);
 
+// Open the file and return the file descriptor
+//
+   if ((fd = open((const char *)path, O_RDONLY)) < 0) return -errno;
+
 // Get the file size
 //
-   if (stat((const char *)path, &buf)) return -errno;
+   if (fstat(fd, &buf) != 0) {
+     close(fd);
+     return -errno;
+   }
+
    fsz = buf.st_size;
 
-// Open the file and return the file descriptor
-//
-   if ((fd = open((const char *)path, O_RDONLY)) < 0) return -errno;
    return fd;
 }