--- src/mandb.c
+++ src/mandb.c	2012-10-01 14:30:11.619507260 +0000
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <sys/stat.h>	/* for chmod() */
+#include <fcntl.h>	/* for open () */
 #include <dirent.h>
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <signal.h>
@@ -420,11 +421,20 @@ static int mandb (const char *catpath, c
 	char *dbname;
 	char *cachedir_tag;
 	struct stat st;
+	int fd;
 
 	dbname = mkdbname (catpath);
 	sprintf (pid, "%d", getpid ());
 	database = appendstr (NULL, catpath, "/", pid, NULL);
-	
+
+	/* Just for the case that catpath isn't a system catpath */
+	drop_effective_privs ();
+	fd = open (database, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_EXCL, 0644);
+	regain_effective_privs ();
+	if (fd < 0)
+		error (FATAL, errno, _("can't create a temporary filename"));
+	close(fd);
+
 	if (!quiet) 
 		printf (_("Processing manual pages under %s...\n"), manpath);
 
@@ -432,6 +442,7 @@ static int mandb (const char *catpath, c
 	if (stat (cachedir_tag, &st) == -1 && errno == ENOENT) {
 		FILE *cachedir_tag_file;
 
+		drop_effective_privs ();
 		cachedir_tag_file = fopen (cachedir_tag, "w");
 		if (cachedir_tag_file) {
 			fputs ("Signature: 8a477f597d28d172789f06886806bc55\n"
@@ -443,6 +454,7 @@ static int mandb (const char *catpath, c
 			       cachedir_tag_file);
 			fclose (cachedir_tag_file);
 		}
+		regain_effective_privs ();
 	}
 	free (cachedir_tag);