diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/memfd/memfd_test.c b/tools/testing/selftests/memfd/memfd_test.c
index dba0e8ba002f..7fc5d7c3bd65 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/memfd/memfd_test.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/memfd/memfd_test.c
@@ -1202,7 +1202,24 @@ static pid_t spawn_newpid_thread(unsigned int flags, int (*fn)(void *))
 
 static void join_newpid_thread(pid_t pid)
 {
-	waitpid(pid, NULL, 0);
+	int wstatus;
+
+	if (waitpid(pid, &wstatus, 0) < 0) {
+		printf("newpid thread: waitpid() failed: %m\n");
+		abort();
+	}
+
+	if (WIFEXITED(wstatus) && WEXITSTATUS(wstatus) != 0) {
+		printf("newpid thread: exited with non-zero error code %d\n",
+		       WEXITSTATUS(wstatus));
+		abort();
+	}
+
+	if (WIFSIGNALED(wstatus)) {
+		printf("newpid thread: killed by signal %d\n",
+		       WTERMSIG(wstatus));
+		abort();
+	}
 }
 
 /*