diff --git a/changelog/2783.fixed.md b/changelog/2783.fixed.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f1ecae676e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/2783.fixed.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Fixed `EpollEvent::events()` to use `from_bits_retain` instead of
+`from_bits().unwrap()`, preventing panics when the kernel returns
+unknown epoll flags.
diff --git a/src/sys/epoll.rs b/src/sys/epoll.rs
index a4ff9b1b6d..9728061d7f 100644
--- a/src/sys/epoll.rs
+++ b/src/sys/epoll.rs
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ impl EpollEvent {
     }
 
     pub fn events(&self) -> EpollFlags {
-        EpollFlags::from_bits(self.event.events as c_int).unwrap()
+        EpollFlags::from_bits_retain(self.event.events as c_int)
     }
 
     pub const fn data(&self) -> u64 {