diff --git a/src/passwd/getgr_a.c b/src/passwd/getgr_a.c
index 2d3ed1d..7738c3c 100644
--- a/src/passwd/getgr_a.c
+++ b/src/passwd/getgr_a.c
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ int __getgr_a(const char *name, gid_t gid, struct group *gr, char **buf, size_t
 			grlist_len += name_len;
 		}
 
-		if (len > *size) {
+		if (len > *size || !*buf) {
 			char *tmp = realloc(*buf, len);
 			if (!tmp) {
 				rv = errno;
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ int __getgr_a(const char *name, gid_t gid, struct group *gr, char **buf, size_t
 			*size = len;
 		}
 
-		if (fread(*buf, 1, len, f) < len) {
+		if (!fread(*buf, len, 1, f)) {
 			rv = ferror(f) ? errno : EIO;
 			goto cleanup_f;
 		}
diff --git a/src/passwd/getpw_a.c b/src/passwd/getpw_a.c
index 9af6cab..b04663d 100644
--- a/src/passwd/getpw_a.c
+++ b/src/passwd/getpw_a.c
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ int __getpw_a(const char *name, uid_t uid, struct passwd *pw, char **buf, size_t
 		    + passwdbuf[PWGECOSLEN] + passwdbuf[PWDIRLEN]
 		    + passwdbuf[PWSHELLLEN];
 
-		if (len > *size) {
+		if (len > *size || !*buf) {
 			char *tmp = realloc(*buf, len);
 			if (!tmp) {
 				rv = errno;
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ int __getpw_a(const char *name, uid_t uid, struct passwd *pw, char **buf, size_t
 			*size = len;
 		}
 
-		if (fread(*buf, 1, len, f) < len) {
+		if (!fread(*buf, len, 1, f)) {
 			rv = ferror(f) ? errno : EIO;
 			goto cleanup_f;
 		}
diff --git a/src/passwd/nscd_query.c b/src/passwd/nscd_query.c
index 539cc2a..f8d0fc1 100644
--- a/src/passwd/nscd_query.c
+++ b/src/passwd/nscd_query.c
@@ -14,34 +14,10 @@ static const struct {
 	"/var/run/nscd/socket"
 };
 
-static ssize_t full_sendmsg(int fd, struct msghdr *m, int flags)
-{
-	ssize_t n, count = 0;
-
-	while (m->msg_iovlen) {
-		n = sendmsg(fd, m, flags);
-		if(n < 0) return n;
-		count += n;
-
-		while (n) {
-			if (n >= m->msg_iov[0].iov_len) {
-				n -= m->msg_iov[0].iov_len;
-				m->msg_iov++;
-				m->msg_iovlen--;
-			} else {
-				m->msg_iov[0].iov_len -= n;
-				n = 0;
-			}
-		}
-	}
-	return count;
-}
-
 FILE *__nscd_query(int32_t req, const char *key, int32_t *buf, size_t len, int *swap)
 {
 	size_t i;
 	int fd;
-	int res = 0;
 	FILE *f = 0;
 	int32_t req_buf[REQ_LEN] = {
 		NSCDVERSION,
@@ -71,23 +47,24 @@ retry:
 		 * that is precisely what happened
 		 */
 		if (errno == EACCES || errno == ECONNREFUSED || errno == ENOENT) {
-			res = -1;
+			close(fd);
+			return (FILE *)-1;
 		}
 		goto error;
 	}
 
-	if (full_sendmsg(fd, &msg, MSG_NOSIGNAL) < 0)
+	if (sendmsg(fd, &msg, MSG_NOSIGNAL) < 0)
 		goto error;
 
-	f = fdopen(fd, "r");
+	if(!(f = fdopen(fd, "r"))) goto error;
 
-	if (fread(buf, 1, len, f) < len) {
+	if (!fread(buf, len, 1, f)) {
 		/* If the VERSION entry mismatches nscd will disconnect. The
 		 * most likely cause is that the endianness mismatched. So, we
 		 * byteswap and try once more. (if we already swapped, just
 		 * fail out)
 		 */
-		if (!feof(f)) goto error;
+		if (ferror(f)) goto error;
 		if (!*swap) {
 			fclose(f);
 			for (i = 0; i < sizeof(req_buf)/sizeof(req_buf[0]); i++) {
@@ -96,8 +73,7 @@ retry:
 			*swap = 1;
 			goto retry;
 		} else {
-			fclose(f);
-			res = -1;
+			errno = EIO;
 			goto error;
 		}
 	}
@@ -113,13 +89,12 @@ retry:
 	 * response.
 	 */
 	if(buf[0] != NSCDVERSION) {
-		res = -1;
 		errno = EIO;
 		goto error;
 	}
 
 	return f;
 error:
-	fclose(f);
-	return (FILE*)res;
+	if (f) fclose(f); else close(fd);
+	return 0;
 }