diff --git a/src/client/client_cli.c b/src/client/client_cli.c
index e8d660f..8565b63 100644
--- a/src/client/client_cli.c
+++ b/src/client/client_cli.c
@@ -54,13 +54,26 @@ bool client_abort_pending(void) {
 }
 
 #ifndef FASTSYNC_TEST_BUILD
+/* SIG_DFL disposition used by the handler's "not armed" fallback.  It is built
+ * once at load time so the handler can restore the default action with
+ * sigaction(2) -- which is async-signal-safe -- instead of signal(3), which is
+ * not.  The zero-initialized sa_mask is the empty set. */
+static const struct sigaction client_default_action = {
+    .sa_handler = SIG_DFL,
+    .sa_flags = 0,
+};
+
 /* Signal handler: perform NO work beyond storing the flag.  Logging, protocol
  * I/O and the STATUS_ABORT frame are all done later on the normal send path,
- * which is not async-signal-safe.  When no transfer is armed, fall back to the
- * default action so local-only modes remain interruptible. */
+ * which is not async-signal-safe.  When no transfer is armed, restore the
+ * default disposition (async-signal-safe sigaction) and re-raise so local-only
+ * modes remain interruptible.  The handler deliberately stays installed while a
+ * transfer is armed -- rather than using SA_RESETHAND -- so a second Ctrl-C
+ * during the graceful abort keeps setting the flag instead of hard-killing the
+ * process mid-cleanup. */
 static void client_signal_handler(int signo) {
   if (!client_abort_armed) {
-    signal(signo, SIG_DFL);
+    sigaction(signo, &client_default_action, NULL);
     raise(signo);
     return;
   }
diff --git a/src/server/server.c b/src/server/server.c
index fa19876..904d80a 100644
--- a/src/server/server.c
+++ b/src/server/server.c
@@ -1055,17 +1055,42 @@ done:
 #ifndef FASTSYNC_SERVER_AS_LIB
 static Server* g_server = NULL;
 
+/* Signal handler for the foreground daemon/standalone listener.
+ *
+ * Async-signal-safety: _exit(2) is on the POSIX async-signal-safe list and is
+ * the ONLY thing done here.  The previous body called server_delete()
+ * (close/free/SSL_CTX_free), daemon_conf_free() and credentials_free(); none of
+ * those (free/malloc, and much of OpenSSL teardown) are async-signal-safe, so a
+ * signal delivered while the main thread was inside malloc/free could deadlock
+ * or corrupt the heap.
+ *
+ * Residual (documented, not hidden): the in-memory teardown is skipped on the
+ * signal path.  That is safe because the parent daemon owns no persistent
+ * resource that survives process exit -- the listening socket is closed by the
+ * kernel, the connection registry is an anonymous MAP_SHARED mapping with no
+ * named backing object, and the daemon config/credential stores are plain heap
+ * allocations.  Connection children are separate processes and handle their own
+ * temp files/locks.  The normal (non-signal) shutdown path in main() still runs
+ * the full teardown, so no cleanup is dropped on the common path.  Wiring the
+ * accept loop (transport_tcp.c, outside this change's scope) to a flag-based
+ * self-pipe shutdown would let the frees run context-safely; it is deliberately
+ * deferred rather than risk restructuring the daemon loop. */
 static void cleanup(int sig) {
   (void)sig;
-  if (g_server)
-    server_delete(&g_server);
-  daemon_conf_free(g_daemon_conf);
-  g_daemon_conf = NULL;
-  credentials_free(g_credentials);
-  g_credentials = NULL;
   _exit(0);
 }
 
+/* Install a signal handler with sigaction(2) (the required async-signal-safe
+ * install primitive; signal(3) is not specified to be async-signal-safe). */
+static void install_cleanup_handler(int signo) {
+  struct sigaction action;
+  memset(&action, 0, sizeof(action));
+  action.sa_handler = cleanup;
+  sigemptyset(&action.sa_mask);
+  action.sa_flags = 0;
+  sigaction(signo, &action, NULL);
+}
+
 static void print_server_usage(void) {
   printf("FastSync Server\n");
   printf("Usage: fastsync-server [options]\n\n");
@@ -1259,8 +1284,8 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
    * this process-global policy cannot be re-enabled by a future caller. */
   server_allow_super = opts.allow_super && !opts.stdio_mode;
   server_iconv_spec = opts.iconv_spec;
-  signal(SIGINT, cleanup);
-  signal(SIGTERM, cleanup);
+  install_cleanup_handler(SIGINT);
+  install_cleanup_handler(SIGTERM);
   /* Server-owned socket deadline floor: the client default --timeout=0 would
    * otherwise leave accepted sockets without SO_RCVTIMEO/SO_SNDTIMEO and let a
    * silent peer hold a connection (and its process slot) forever. */