diff --git a/bin/sh/miscbltin.c b/bin/sh/miscbltin.c
--- a/bin/sh/miscbltin.c
+++ b/bin/sh/miscbltin.c
@@ -40,11 +40,14 @@
 #include <sys/stat.h>
 #include <sys/time.h>
 #include <sys/resource.h>
-#include <unistd.h>
+
 #include <errno.h>
+#include <poll.h>
+#include <signal.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
 
 #include "shell.h"
 #include "options.h"
@@ -162,17 +165,18 @@
 	int is_ifs;
 	int saveall = 0;
 	ptrdiff_t lastnonifs, lastnonifsws;
-	struct timeval tv;
-	char *tvptr;
-	fd_set ifds;
+	sigset_t set, oset;
+	struct timespec timeout, tnow, tend;
+	struct pollfd pfd;
+	char *endptr;
 	ssize_t nread;
 	int sig;
 	struct fdctx fdctx;
 
 	rflag = 0;
 	prompt = NULL;
-	tv.tv_sec = -1;
-	tv.tv_usec = 0;
+	timeout.tv_sec = -1;
+	timeout.tv_nsec = 0;
 	while ((i = nextopt("erp:t:")) != '\0') {
 		switch(i) {
 		case 'p':
@@ -184,22 +188,23 @@
 			rflag = 1;
 			break;
 		case 't':
-			tv.tv_sec = strtol(shoptarg, &tvptr, 0);
-			if (tvptr == shoptarg)
+			timeout.tv_sec = strtol(shoptarg, &endptr, 0);
+			if (endptr == shoptarg)
 				error("timeout value");
-			switch(*tvptr) {
-			case 0:
+			switch (*endptr) {
 			case 's':
+				endptr++;
 				break;
 			case 'h':
-				tv.tv_sec *= 60;
+				timeout.tv_sec *= 60;
 				/* FALLTHROUGH */
 			case 'm':
-				tv.tv_sec *= 60;
+				timeout.tv_sec *= 60;
+				endptr++;
 				break;
-			default:
-				error("timeout unit");
 			}
+			if (*endptr != '\0')
+				error("timeout unit");
 			break;
 		}
 	}
@@ -212,13 +217,33 @@
 	if ((ifs = bltinlookup("IFS", 1)) == NULL)
 		ifs = " \t\n";
 
-	if (tv.tv_sec >= 0) {
+	if (timeout.tv_sec >= 0) {
 		/*
 		 * Wait for something to become available.
 		 */
-		FD_ZERO(&ifds);
-		FD_SET(0, &ifds);
-		status = select(1, &ifds, NULL, NULL, &tv);
+		pfd.fd = STDIN_FILENO;
+		pfd.events = POLLIN;
+		status = sig = 0;
+		sigfillset(&set);
+		sigprocmask(SIG_SETMASK, &set, &oset);
+		if (pendingsig) {
+			/* caught a signal already */
+			status = -1;
+		} else if (timeout.tv_sec == 0) {
+			status = poll(&pfd, 1, 0);
+		} else {
+			clock_gettime(CLOCK_UPTIME, &tnow);
+			tend = tnow;
+			tend.tv_sec += timeout.tv_sec;
+			do {
+				timespecsub(&tend, &tnow, &timeout);
+				status = ppoll(&pfd, 1, &timeout, &oset);
+				if (status >= 0 || pendingsig != 0)
+					break;
+				clock_gettime(CLOCK_UPTIME, &tnow);
+			} while (timespeccmp(&tnow, &tend, <));
+		}
+		sigprocmask(SIG_SETMASK, &oset, NULL);
 		/*
 		 * If there's nothing ready, return an error.
 		 */
diff --git a/bin/sh/tests/builtins/Makefile b/bin/sh/tests/builtins/Makefile
--- a/bin/sh/tests/builtins/Makefile
+++ b/bin/sh/tests/builtins/Makefile
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@
 ${PACKAGE}FILES+=		read9.0
 ${PACKAGE}FILES+=		read10.0
 ${PACKAGE}FILES+=		read11.0
+${PACKAGE}FILES+=		read12.0
 ${PACKAGE}FILES+=		return1.0
 ${PACKAGE}FILES+=		return2.1
 ${PACKAGE}FILES+=		return3.1
diff --git a/bin/sh/tests/builtins/read12.0 b/bin/sh/tests/builtins/read12.0
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/sh/tests/builtins/read12.0
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+
+set -e
+
+T=$(mktemp -d ${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/sh-test.XXXXXX)
+trap 'rm -rf "$T"' 0
+cd $T
+echo new_value >file1
+exec 3<file1
+v=original_value
+r=0
+read -t 0 v <&3 || r=$?
+[ "$r" -eq 0 ]
+[ "$v" = "new_value" ]