diff --git a/mailutils/mime.c b/mailutils/mime.c
index b81cfd5..bda727b 100644
--- a/mailutils/mime.c
+++ b/mailutils/mime.c
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@
 			if (opts & OPT_X) {
 				int fd[2];
 				xpipe(fd);
-				pid = fork();
+				pid = vfork();
 				if (0 == pid) {
 					// child reads from fd[0]
 					xdup2(fd[0], STDIN_FILENO);