diff --git a/kernel/poll.c b/kernel/poll.c
index 8a91be47ae..e5a7add3a4 100644
--- a/kernel/poll.c
+++ b/kernel/poll.c
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ dword_t sys_select(fd_t nfds, addr_t readfds_addr, addr_t writefds_addr, addr_t
         timeout_ts.tv_sec = timeout_timeval.sec;
         timeout_ts.tv_nsec = timeout_timeval.usec * 1000;
     }
+    // Emacs likes to pass invalid timeout values
+    timeout_ts = timespec_normalize(timeout_ts);
 
     STRACE("select(%d, 0x%x, 0x%x, 0x%x, 0x%x {%lds %ldns}) ",
             nfds, readfds_addr, writefds_addr, exceptfds_addr,
diff --git a/util/timer.h b/util/timer.h
index 8de98895fc..1a8c6711b3 100644
--- a/util/timer.h
+++ b/util/timer.h
@@ -43,6 +43,12 @@ static inline bool timespec_positive(struct timespec ts) {
     return ts.tv_sec > 0 || (ts.tv_sec == 0 && ts.tv_nsec > 0);
 }
 
+static inline struct timespec timespec_normalize(struct timespec ts) {
+    ts.tv_sec += ts.tv_nsec / 1000000000;
+    ts.tv_nsec %= 1000000000;
+    return ts;
+}
+
 typedef void (*timer_callback_t)(void *data);
 struct timer {
     clockid_t clockid;