diff --git a/ext/pcntl/pcntl.c b/ext/pcntl/pcntl.c
index e3b4a9c4c69f..de8d7dfecfd7 100644
--- a/ext/pcntl/pcntl.c
+++ b/ext/pcntl/pcntl.c
@@ -798,15 +798,16 @@ PHP_FUNCTION(pcntl_signal)
 		RETURN_THROWS();
 	}
 
-	/* Add the function name to our signal table */
-	handle = zend_hash_index_update(&PCNTL_G(php_signal_table), signo, handle);
-	Z_TRY_ADDREF_P(handle);
-
+	/* Register with the OS first so that on failure we don't record a handler that was never installed */
 	if (php_signal4(signo, pcntl_signal_handler, (int) restart_syscalls, 1) == (void *)SIG_ERR) {
 		PCNTL_G(last_error) = errno;
 		php_error_docref(NULL, E_WARNING, "Error assigning signal");
 		RETURN_FALSE;
 	}
+
+	/* Add the function name to our signal table */
+	handle = zend_hash_index_update(&PCNTL_G(php_signal_table), signo, handle);
+	Z_TRY_ADDREF_P(handle);
 	RETURN_TRUE;
 }
 /* }}} */