diff --git a/audisp/plugins/remote/audisp-remote.c b/audisp/plugins/remote/audisp-remote.c
index 2b79929c9..d97d319e2 100644
--- a/audisp/plugins/remote/audisp-remote.c
+++ b/audisp/plugins/remote/audisp-remote.c
@@ -199,17 +199,6 @@ static int sync_error_handler (const char *why)
 	return 0;
 }
 
-static int is_pipe(int fd)
-{
-	struct stat st;
-
-	if (fstat(fd, &st) == 0) {
-		if (S_ISFIFO(st.st_mode))
-			return 1;
-	}
-	return 0;
-}
-
 static void change_runlevel(const char *level)
 {
 	char *argv[3];
diff --git a/common/common.c b/common/common.c
index d400528e8..3b92c9390 100644
--- a/common/common.c
+++ b/common/common.c
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@
 #include <fcntl.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>	// strtol
 #include <errno.h>
+#include <poll.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
 
 /*
  * This function returns 1 if it is the last record in an event.
@@ -162,3 +164,43 @@ long time_string_to_seconds(const char *time_string,
 	return i;
 }
 
+int is_pipe(int fd)
+{
+	struct stat st;
+
+	return (!fstat(fd, &st) && S_ISFIFO(st.st_mode));
+}
+
+/*
+ * Check if stdin is a pipe, and it is, check if it has data on it.
+ *
+ * Return:
+ *  0: no data to read
+ *  1: has data to read
+ * -errno: error from poll() or -EPIPE if errno wasn't set
+ */
+int check_stdin_data(void)
+{
+	struct pollfd in = {
+		.fd = STDIN_FILENO,
+		.events = POLLIN,
+	};
+	int ret;
+
+	if (!is_pipe(in.fd))
+		return 0;
+
+	/* this is stdin, so a 0 timeout should be enough for this check */
+	ret = poll(&in, 1, 0);
+	if (ret < 0 || (in.revents & POLLERR)) {
+		ret = errno ? -errno : -EPIPE;
+		fprintf(stderr, "<error %d polling data from stdin>\n", ret);
+
+		return ret;
+	}
+
+	if (!ret || !(in.revents & POLLIN))
+		return 0;
+
+	return 1;
+}
diff --git a/common/common.h b/common/common.h
index 5c9d5d9f4..0d8afc8c8 100644
--- a/common/common.h
+++ b/common/common.h
@@ -87,6 +87,9 @@ void wall_message(const char *fmt, ...)
 	;
 #endif
 
+int is_pipe(int fd);
+int check_stdin_data(void);
+
 AUDIT_HIDDEN_END
 #endif
 
diff --git a/src/aureport.c b/src/aureport.c
index 666d06c95..4518c4b52 100644
--- a/src/aureport.c
+++ b/src/aureport.c
@@ -69,21 +69,10 @@ extern int force_logs;
 extern time_t arg_eoe_timeout;
 
 
-static int is_pipe(int fd)
-{
-	struct stat st;
-
-	if (fstat(fd, &st) == 0) {
-		if (S_ISFIFO(st.st_mode))
-			return 1;
-	}
-	return 0;
-}
-
 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
 	struct rlimit limit;
-	int rc;
+	int rc, has_stdin;
 
 	/* Check params and build regexpr */
 	setlocale (LC_ALL, "");
@@ -111,6 +100,10 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		fprintf(stderr, "NOTE - using built-in logs: %s\n",
 				config.log_file);
 
+	has_stdin = check_stdin_data();
+	if (has_stdin < 0)
+		return 1;
+
 	/* Set timeout from the config file */
 	lol_set_eoe_timeout((time_t)config.end_of_event_timeout);
 
@@ -143,12 +136,10 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 					break;
 			}
 		}
-	} else if (force_logs)
+	} else if (force_logs || !has_stdin)
 		rc = process_logs();
-	else if (is_pipe(0))
-		rc = process_stdin();
 	else
-		rc = process_logs();
+		rc = process_stdin();
 	lol_clear(&lo);
 	if (rc)
 		return rc;
diff --git a/src/ausearch-common.h b/src/ausearch-common.h
index 3040547af..e0661803e 100644
--- a/src/ausearch-common.h
+++ b/src/ausearch-common.h
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 #include <time.h>
 #include "ausearch-string.h"
 #include "auparse-defs.h"
+#include "common.h"
 
 /*
  * MAX_EVENT_DELTA_SECS is the maximum number of seconds it would take for
diff --git a/src/ausearch.c b/src/ausearch.c
index c47b9ed44..695ce4482 100644
--- a/src/ausearch.c
+++ b/src/ausearch.c
@@ -76,22 +76,10 @@ extern void output_auparse_finish(void);
  */
 extern time_t arg_eoe_timeout;
 
-static int is_pipe(int fd)
-{
-	struct stat st;
-	int pipe_mode=0;
-
-	if (fstat(fd, &st) == 0) {
-		if (S_ISFIFO(st.st_mode)) 
-			pipe_mode = 1;
-	}
-	return pipe_mode;
-}
-
 int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
 	struct rlimit limit;
-	int rc;
+	int rc, has_stdin;
 	struct stat sb;
 
 	/* Check params and build regexpr */
@@ -124,6 +112,10 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		}
 	}
 
+	has_stdin = check_stdin_data();
+	if (has_stdin < 0)
+		return 1;
+
 	/* Set timeout from the config file */
 	lol_set_eoe_timeout((time_t)config.end_of_event_timeout);
 
@@ -179,16 +171,15 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 				free_config(&config);
 				break;
 		}
-	} else if (force_logs)
+	} else if (force_logs || !has_stdin)
 		rc = process_logs();
-	else if (is_pipe(0)) {
+	else {
 		rc = process_stdin();
 		if (checkpt_filename)
 	       	        fprintf(stderr,
 			    "Warning - checkpointing stdin is not supported");
 		goto skip_checkpt; // Don't overwrite chkpt when reading a pipe
-	} else
-		rc = process_logs();
+	}
 
 	/* Generate a checkpoint if required */
 	if (checkpt_filename) {