diff --git a/include/sudo_event.h b/include/sudo_event.h
index 70983a062..bb508b3a7 100644
--- a/include/sudo_event.h
+++ b/include/sudo_event.h
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@ struct timeval;		/* for deprecated APIs */
 #define SUDO_EV_SIGNAL		0x10	/* fire on signal receipt */
 #define SUDO_EV_SIGINFO		0x20	/* fire on signal receipt (siginfo) */
 
+/* User-settable events for sudo_ev_init() (SUDO_EV_TIMEOUT not valid here) */
+#define SUDO_EV_MASK		(SUDO_EV_READ|SUDO_EV_WRITE|SUDO_EV_PERSIST|SUDO_EV_SIGNAL|SUDO_EV_SIGINFO)
+
 /* Event flags (internal) */
 #define SUDO_EVQ_INSERTED	0x01	/* event is on the event queue */
 #define SUDO_EVQ_ACTIVE		0x02	/* event is on the active queue */
diff --git a/lib/util/event.c b/lib/util/event.c
index a756bc770..0cd89ad94 100644
--- a/lib/util/event.c
+++ b/lib/util/event.c
@@ -273,10 +273,9 @@ sudo_ev_init(struct sudo_event *ev, int fd, short events,
 {
     debug_decl(sudo_ev_init, SUDO_DEBUG_EVENT);
 
-    /* XXX - sanity check events value */
     memset(ev, 0, sizeof(*ev));
     ev->fd = fd;
-    ev->events = events;
+    ev->events = events & SUDO_EV_MASK;
     ev->pfd_idx = -1;
     ev->callback = callback;
     ev->closure = closure;
@@ -842,7 +841,7 @@ sudo_ev_get_timeleft_v2(struct sudo_event *ev, struct timespec *ts)
 int
 sudo_ev_pending_v1(struct sudo_event *ev, short events, struct timespec *ts)
 {
-    int ret = 0;
+    int ret;
     debug_decl(sudo_ev_pending, SUDO_DEBUG_EVENT);
 
     sudo_debug_printf(SUDO_DEBUG_INFO, "%s: event %p, flags 0x%x, events 0x%x",