diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index d75b64da2..337ea6fb2 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2023-12-02  Bart Schaefer  <schaefer@zsh.org>
+
+	* 52360: Test/A04redirect.ztst: Simplify bad-descriptor check in
+	%prep -- avoids accidentally using an open descriptor (derived
+	from German Riano: 52328)
+
 2023-11-29  Bart Schaefer  <schaefer@zsh.org>
 
 	* Sebastian Gniazdowski: 52145: Functions/Prompts/prompt_sprint2_setup:
diff --git a/Test/A04redirect.ztst b/Test/A04redirect.ztst
index 17f6dfa29..dc62efab3 100644
--- a/Test/A04redirect.ztst
+++ b/Test/A04redirect.ztst
@@ -3,9 +3,8 @@
 %prep
   mkdir redir.tmp && cd redir.tmp
 
-  myfd=99
-  (echo >&$myfd) 2>msg
-  bad_fd_msg="${$(<msg)##*:}"
+  bad_fd_msg="${$( { exec 9>&-; echo >&9 } 2>&1)##*:}"
+  [[ -n "$bad_fd_msg" ]]
 
 %test