diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Debug/ErrorHandler.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Debug/ErrorHandler.php
index cc698ee533..3ec11276a9 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Debug/ErrorHandler.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Debug/ErrorHandler.php
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ class ErrorHandler
 
     private $loggedTraces = array();
     private $isRecursive = 0;
+    private $isRoot = false;
     private $exceptionHandler;
 
     private static $reservedMemory;
@@ -134,7 +135,12 @@ class ErrorHandler
             $handler = new static();
         }
 
-        $prev = set_error_handler(array($handler, 'handleError'), $handler->thrownErrors | $handler->loggedErrors);
+        if (null === $prev = set_error_handler(array($handler, 'handleError'))) {
+            restore_error_handler();
+            // Specifying the error types earlier would expose us to https://bugs.php.net/63206
+            set_error_handler(array($handler, 'handleError'), $handler->thrownErrors | $handler->loggedErrors);
+            $handler->isRoot = true;
+        }
 
         if ($handlerIsNew && is_array($prev) && $prev[0] instanceof self) {
             $handler = $prev[0];
@@ -326,12 +332,16 @@ class ErrorHandler
     private function reRegister($prev)
     {
         if ($prev !== $this->thrownErrors | $this->loggedErrors) {
-            $handler = set_error_handler('var_dump', 0);
+            $handler = set_error_handler('var_dump');
             $handler = is_array($handler) ? $handler[0] : null;
             restore_error_handler();
             if ($handler === $this) {
                 restore_error_handler();
-                set_error_handler(array($this, 'handleError'), $this->thrownErrors | $this->loggedErrors);
+                if ($this->isRoot) {
+                    set_error_handler(array($this, 'handleError'), $this->thrownErrors | $this->loggedErrors);
+                } else {
+                    set_error_handler(array($this, 'handleError'));
+                }
             }
         }
     }
@@ -527,7 +537,7 @@ class ErrorHandler
 
         self::$reservedMemory = null;
 
-        $handler = set_error_handler('var_dump', 0);
+        $handler = set_error_handler('var_dump');
         $handler = is_array($handler) ? $handler[0] : null;
         restore_error_handler();
 
@@ -672,7 +682,7 @@ class ErrorHandler
     {
         @trigger_error('The '.__METHOD__.' static method is deprecated since version 2.6 and will be removed in 3.0. Use the setLoggers() or setDefaultLogger() methods instead.', E_USER_DEPRECATED);
 
-        $handler = set_error_handler('var_dump', 0);
+        $handler = set_error_handler('var_dump');
         $handler = is_array($handler) ? $handler[0] : null;
         restore_error_handler();
         if (!$handler instanceof self) {
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Debug/Tests/DebugClassLoaderTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Debug/Tests/DebugClassLoaderTest.php
index 1516dbedf9..2f948d7572 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Debug/Tests/DebugClassLoaderTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Debug/Tests/DebugClassLoaderTest.php
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ class DebugClassLoaderTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
      */
     public function testDeprecatedSuper($class, $super, $type)
     {
-        set_error_handler('var_dump', 0);
+        set_error_handler(function() { return false; });
         $e = error_reporting(0);
         trigger_error('', E_USER_DEPRECATED);
 
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ class DebugClassLoaderTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
 
     public function testDeprecatedSuperInSameNamespace()
     {
-        set_error_handler('var_dump', 0);
+        set_error_handler(function() { return false; });
         $e = error_reporting(0);
         trigger_error('', E_USER_NOTICE);
 
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ class DebugClassLoaderTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
             $this->markTestSkipped('PHP7 already prevents using reserved names.');
         }
 
-        set_error_handler('var_dump', 0);
+        set_error_handler(function() { return false; });
         $e = error_reporting(0);
         trigger_error('', E_USER_NOTICE);
 
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Filesystem/LockHandler.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Filesystem/LockHandler.php
index fa2575f911..b53d9f4d52 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Filesystem/LockHandler.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Filesystem/LockHandler.php
@@ -68,9 +68,8 @@ class LockHandler
             return true;
         }
 
-        // Silence both userland and native PHP error handlers
-        $errorLevel = error_reporting(0);
-        set_error_handler('var_dump', 0);
+        // Silence error reporting
+        set_error_handler(function() {});
 
         if (!$this->handle = fopen($this->file, 'r')) {
             if ($this->handle = fopen($this->file, 'x')) {
@@ -81,7 +80,6 @@ class LockHandler
             }
         }
         restore_error_handler();
-        error_reporting($errorLevel);
 
         if (!$this->handle) {
             $error = error_get_last();
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/HttpKernel/EventListener/DebugHandlersListener.php b/src/Symfony/Component/HttpKernel/EventListener/DebugHandlersListener.php
index f50e4d6c3b..19a4c6d945 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/HttpKernel/EventListener/DebugHandlersListener.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/HttpKernel/EventListener/DebugHandlersListener.php
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ class DebugHandlersListener implements EventSubscriberInterface
         }
         $this->firstCall = false;
         if ($this->logger || null !== $this->throwAt) {
-            $handler = set_error_handler('var_dump', 0);
+            $handler = set_error_handler('var_dump');
             $handler = is_array($handler) ? $handler[0] : null;
             restore_error_handler();
             if ($handler instanceof ErrorHandler) {