diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog b/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
index b84613694..9ce670718 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2011-05-10  Christian Franke  <franke@computer.org>
+
+	* security.cc (check_registry_access): Handle missing
+	security descriptor of HKEY_PERFORMANCE_DATA.
+
 2011-05-10  Corinna Vinschen  <corinna@vinschen.de>
 
 	* lc_msg.h: Regenerate.
diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/security.cc b/winsup/cygwin/security.cc
index a52fc26ac..430a65fbc 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/security.cc
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/security.cc
@@ -1085,8 +1085,13 @@ check_registry_access (HANDLE hdl, int flags, bool effective)
     desired |= KEY_SET_VALUE;
   if (flags & X_OK)
     desired |= KEY_QUERY_VALUE;
-  if (!get_reg_sd (hdl, sd))
+
+  if ((HKEY) hdl == HKEY_PERFORMANCE_DATA)
+    /* RegGetKeySecurity() always fails with ERROR_INVALID_HANDLE.  */
+    ret = 0;
+  else if (!get_reg_sd (hdl, sd))
     ret = check_access (sd, reg_mapping, desired, flags, effective);
+
   /* As long as we can't write the registry... */
   if (flags & W_OK)
     {