diff --git a/src/firejail/firejail.h b/src/firejail/firejail.h
index 6c0ebcd4335..80987e4940e 100644
--- a/src/firejail/firejail.h
+++ b/src/firejail/firejail.h
@@ -372,7 +372,7 @@ char *guess_shell(void);
 // sandbox.c
 #define SANDBOX_DONE '1'
 int sandbox(void* sandbox_arg);
-void start_application(int no_sandbox, char *set_sandbox_status) __attribute__((noreturn));
+void start_application(int no_sandbox, int fd, char *set_sandbox_status) __attribute__((noreturn));
 void set_apparmor(void);
 
 // network_main.c
diff --git a/src/firejail/join.c b/src/firejail/join.c
index ca8b8c4bf01..d255b72c4a7 100644
--- a/src/firejail/join.c
+++ b/src/firejail/join.c
@@ -299,6 +299,21 @@ static void extract_umask(pid_t pid) {
 	fclose(fp);
 }
 
+static int open_shell(void) {
+	EUID_ASSERT();
+	assert(cfg.shell);
+
+	if (arg_debug)
+		printf("Opening shell %s\n", cfg.shell);
+	// file descriptor will leak if not opened with O_CLOEXEC !!
+	int fd = open(cfg.shell, O_PATH|O_CLOEXEC);
+	if (fd == -1) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "Error: cannot open shell %s\n", cfg.shell);
+		exit(1);
+	}
+	return fd;
+}
+
 // return false if the sandbox identified by pid is not fully set up yet or if
 // it is no firejail sandbox at all, return true if the sandbox is complete
 bool is_ready_for_join(const pid_t pid) {
@@ -391,6 +406,10 @@ void join(pid_t pid, int argc, char **argv, int index) {
 
 	extract_x11_display(parent);
 
+	int shfd = -1;
+	if (!arg_shell_none)
+		shfd = open_shell();
+
 	EUID_ROOT();
 	// in user mode set caps seccomp, cpu, cgroup, etc
 	if (getuid() != 0) {
@@ -522,10 +541,9 @@ void join(pid_t pid, int argc, char **argv, int index) {
 		extract_command(argc, argv, index);
 		if (cfg.command_line == NULL) {
 			assert(cfg.shell);
-			cfg.command_line = cfg.shell;
 			cfg.window_title = cfg.shell;
 		}
-		if (arg_debug)
+		else if (arg_debug)
 			printf("Extracted command #%s#\n", cfg.command_line);
 
 		// set cpu affinity
@@ -554,11 +572,13 @@ void join(pid_t pid, int argc, char **argv, int index) {
 			dbus_set_system_bus_env();
 #endif
 
-		start_application(0, NULL);
+		start_application(0, shfd, NULL);
 
 		__builtin_unreachable();
 	}
 	EUID_USER();
+	if (shfd != -1)
+		close(shfd);
 
 	int status = 0;
 	//*****************************
diff --git a/src/firejail/main.c b/src/firejail/main.c
index b8ed29eceed..213d5c01453 100644
--- a/src/firejail/main.c
+++ b/src/firejail/main.c
@@ -2786,7 +2786,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp) {
 
 	// build the sandbox command
 	if (prog_index == -1 && cfg.shell) {
-		cfg.command_line = cfg.shell;
+		assert(cfg.command_line == NULL); // runs cfg.shell
 		cfg.window_title = cfg.shell;
 		cfg.command_name = cfg.shell;
 	}
diff --git a/src/firejail/no_sandbox.c b/src/firejail/no_sandbox.c
index 01df77ee679..22f36ef0703 100644
--- a/src/firejail/no_sandbox.c
+++ b/src/firejail/no_sandbox.c
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ void run_no_sandbox(int argc, char **argv) {
 	}
 
 	if (prog_index == 0) {
-		cfg.command_line = cfg.shell;
+		assert(cfg.command_line == NULL); // runs cfg.shell
 		cfg.window_title = cfg.shell;
 	} else {
 		build_cmdline(&cfg.command_line, &cfg.window_title, argc, argv, prog_index);
@@ -230,5 +230,5 @@ void run_no_sandbox(int argc, char **argv) {
 
 	arg_quiet = 1;
 
-	start_application(1, NULL);
+	start_application(1, -1, NULL);
 }
diff --git a/src/firejail/sandbox.c b/src/firejail/sandbox.c
index 5c7b5e55682..991e5b2f260 100644
--- a/src/firejail/sandbox.c
+++ b/src/firejail/sandbox.c
@@ -461,7 +461,7 @@ static int ok_to_run(const char *program) {
 	return 0;
 }
 
-void start_application(int no_sandbox, char *set_sandbox_status) {
+void start_application(int no_sandbox, int fd, char *set_sandbox_status) {
 	// set environment
 	if (no_sandbox == 0) {
 		env_defaults();
@@ -471,7 +471,7 @@ void start_application(int no_sandbox, char *set_sandbox_status) {
 	umask(orig_umask);
 
 	if (arg_debug) {
-		printf("starting application\n");
+		printf("Starting application\n");
 		printf("LD_PRELOAD=%s\n", getenv("LD_PRELOAD"));
 	}
 
@@ -488,9 +488,6 @@ void start_application(int no_sandbox, char *set_sandbox_status) {
 		if (set_sandbox_status)
 			*set_sandbox_status = SANDBOX_DONE;
 		execl(arg_audit_prog, arg_audit_prog, NULL);
-
-		perror("execl");
-		exit(1);
 	}
 	//****************************************
 	// start the program without using a shell
@@ -532,35 +529,37 @@ void start_application(int no_sandbox, char *set_sandbox_status) {
 	//****************************************
 	else {
 		assert(cfg.shell);
-		assert(cfg.command_line);
 
 		char *arg[5];
 		int index = 0;
 		arg[index++] = cfg.shell;
-		if (login_shell) {
-			arg[index++] = "-l";
-			if (arg_debug)
-				printf("Starting %s login shell\n", cfg.shell);
-		} else {
-			arg[index++] = "-c";
+		if (cfg.command_line) {
 			if (arg_debug)
 				printf("Running %s command through %s\n", cfg.command_line, cfg.shell);
+			arg[index++] = "-c";
 			if (arg_doubledash)
 				arg[index++] = "--";
 			arg[index++] = cfg.command_line;
 		}
-		arg[index] = NULL;
+		else if (login_shell) {
+			if (arg_debug)
+				printf("Starting %s login shell\n", cfg.shell);
+			arg[index++] = "-l";
+		}
+		else if (arg_debug)
+			printf("Starting %s shell\n", cfg.shell);
+
 		assert(index < 5);
+		arg[index] = NULL;
 
 		if (arg_debug) {
 			char *msg;
-			if (asprintf(&msg, "sandbox %d, execvp into %s", sandbox_pid, cfg.command_line) == -1)
+			if (asprintf(&msg, "sandbox %d, execvp into %s",
+				sandbox_pid, cfg.command_line ? cfg.command_line : cfg.shell) == -1)
 				errExit("asprintf");
 			logmsg(msg);
 			free(msg);
-		}
 
-		if (arg_debug) {
 			int i;
 			for (i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
 				if (arg[i] == NULL)
@@ -580,10 +579,14 @@ void start_application(int no_sandbox, char *set_sandbox_status) {
 		if (set_sandbox_status)
 			*set_sandbox_status = SANDBOX_DONE;
 		execvp(arg[0], arg);
+
+		// join sandbox without shell in the mount namespace
+		if (fd > -1)
+			fexecve(fd, arg, environ);
 	}
 
-	perror("execvp");
-	exit(1); // it should never get here!!!
+	perror("Cannot start application");
+	exit(1);
 }
 
 static void enforce_filters(void) {
@@ -1223,7 +1226,7 @@ int sandbox(void* sandbox_arg) {
 			set_nice(cfg.nice);
 		set_rlimits();
 
-		start_application(0, set_sandbox_status);
+		start_application(0, -1, set_sandbox_status);
 	}
 
 	munmap(set_sandbox_status, 1);