diff --git a/src/vnsw/agent/cmn/agent_cmn.h b/src/vnsw/agent/cmn/agent_cmn.h
index c54b4664804..ecad648ba26 100644
--- a/src/vnsw/agent/cmn/agent_cmn.h
+++ b/src/vnsw/agent/cmn/agent_cmn.h
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include <netinet/in.h>
 #include <arpa/inet.h>
 #include <net/address.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
 
 #include <boost/intrusive_ptr.hpp>
 #include <boost/bind.hpp>
@@ -73,6 +74,13 @@ static inline void CfgUuidSet(uint64_t ms_long, uint64_t ls_long,
     }
 }
 
+static inline void CloseTaskFds(void) {
+    int max_open_fds = sysconf(_SC_OPEN_MAX);
+    int fd;
+    for(fd = 3; fd < max_open_fds; fd++)
+        close(fd);
+}
+
 extern SandeshTraceBufferPtr OperDBTraceBuf;
 extern bool GetBuildInfo(std::string &build_info_str);
 
diff --git a/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_task.cc b/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_task.cc
index ede60d9a99a..ec62122457a 100644
--- a/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_task.cc
+++ b/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_task.cc
@@ -93,6 +93,8 @@ pid_t InstanceTask::Run() {
         close(STDOUT_FILENO);
         close(STDIN_FILENO);
 
+        /* Close all the open fds before execvp */
+        CloseTaskFds();
         execvp(c_argv[0], (char **) c_argv.data());
         perror("execvp");
 
diff --git a/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_task.h b/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_task.h
index 03da27bbc2e..1a659cba929 100644
--- a/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_task.h
+++ b/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_task.h
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include "base/timer.h"
 #include "base/queue_task.h"
 #include "cmn/agent_signal.h"
+#include "cmn/agent_cmn.h"
 #include "db/db_entry.h"
 
 class EventManager;
diff --git a/src/vnsw/agent/oper/test/SConscript b/src/vnsw/agent/oper/test/SConscript
index b4da801ea09..4b8fa2614bd 100644
--- a/src/vnsw/agent/oper/test/SConscript
+++ b/src/vnsw/agent/oper/test/SConscript
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ test_fabric_interface = AgentEnv.MakeTestCmd(env, 'test_fabric_interface',
                                              oper_flaky_test_suite)
 test_aap = AgentEnv.MakeTestCmd(env, 'test_aap', oper_flaky_test_suite)
 test_ipv6 = AgentEnv.MakeTestCmd(env, 'test_ipv6', oper_test_suite)
+test_instance_task = AgentEnv.MakeTestCmd(env, 'test_instance_task', oper_test_suite)
 env.Alias('agent:test_ipv6', test_ipv6)
 
 env.Append(LIBPATH = [
diff --git a/src/vnsw/agent/oper/test/test_instance_task.cc b/src/vnsw/agent/oper/test/test_instance_task.cc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..55acd59419f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/vnsw/agent/oper/test/test_instance_task.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+#include "oper/instance_task.h"
+#include "testing/gunit.h"
+
+#include <boost/filesystem.hpp>
+#include <boost/bind.hpp>
+#include <sstream>
+#include <fstream>
+
+#include <cstdlib>
+#include <boost/uuid/random_generator.hpp>
+
+#include "io/event_manager.h"
+#include "base/logging.h"
+#include "base/os.h"
+#include "base/test/task_test_util.h"
+
+using namespace std;
+using namespace boost::filesystem;
+
+class InstanceTaskFdTest : public ::testing::Test {
+public:
+    virtual void SetUp() {
+        memset(tmpfilename, 0, sizeof(tmpfilename));
+        strcpy(tmpfilename, "task_fd_XXXXXX");
+        mkstemp(tmpfilename);
+        std::fstream testfile(tmpfilename);
+        testfile << "while true; do sleep 1; done";
+        testfile.close();
+        std::stringstream cmd_str;
+        cmd_str << "/bin/sh" << " " <<tmpfilename;
+        task_ = new InstanceTask(cmd_str.str(), 1, &evm);
+    }
+
+    virtual void TearDown() {
+        delete task_;
+        remove(tmpfilename);
+    }
+
+    int StartTask() {
+        /* create few fds */
+        if(pipe(pipe_fds) == -1)
+            return -1;
+        sock_fd = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, 0);
+        if (sock_fd < 0)
+            return -1;
+        /* run the task now */
+        task_pid = task_->Run();
+        return task_pid;
+    }
+
+    int StopTask() {
+        task_->Stop();
+        close(pipe_fds[0]);
+        close(pipe_fds[1]);
+        close(sock_fd);
+    }
+
+    int GetTaskFds() {
+        std::stringstream proc_path;
+        int no_of_fds;
+        proc_path << "/proc/" <<task_pid<<"/fd/";
+        path the_path(proc_path.str());
+        no_of_fds = std::count_if(directory_iterator(the_path),
+                                  directory_iterator(),
+                                  bind( static_cast<bool(*)(const path&)>(is_other),
+                                  bind( &directory_entry::path, _1)));
+        return no_of_fds;
+    }
+
+protected:
+    int pipe_fds[2];
+    int sock_fd;
+    InstanceTask *task_;
+    int task_pid;
+    EventManager evm;
+    char tmpfilename[L_tmpnam];
+};
+
+TEST_F(InstanceTaskFdTest, TestCloseTaskFds) {
+    task_pid = StartTask();
+    EXPECT_TRUE(task_pid > 0);
+    int task_open_fds = GetTaskFds();
+    StopTask();
+    /* The task should have only 1 opened fd (i.e fd 2) */
+    EXPECT_EQ(1U, task_open_fds);
+};
+
+int main(int argc, char **argv) {
+    LoggingInit();
+    ::testing::InitGoogleTest(&argc, argv);
+
+    int result = RUN_ALL_TESTS();
+    return result;
+}
diff --git a/src/vnsw/agent/uve/vm_stat.cc b/src/vnsw/agent/uve/vm_stat.cc
index 8c5dd7189f3..49bb5ad3507 100644
--- a/src/vnsw/agent/uve/vm_stat.cc
+++ b/src/vnsw/agent/uve/vm_stat.cc
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include <sys/times.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <sys/wait.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
 #include <uve/vm_stat.h>
 #include <uve/vm_stat_data.h>
 #include <db/db.h>
@@ -87,6 +88,9 @@ void VmStat::ExecCmd(std::string cmd, DoneCb cb) {
         dup2(out[1], STDOUT_FILENO);
         //Close out[1] as stdout is a exact replica of out[1]
         close(out[1]);
+
+        /* Close all the open fds before execvp */
+        CloseTaskFds();
         execvp(argv[0], argv);
         perror("execvp");
         exit(127);