diff --git a/src/client/cockpit-client b/src/client/cockpit-client
index e9260333ed17..55a2411049b2 100755
--- a/src/client/cockpit-client
+++ b/src/client/cockpit-client
@@ -47,11 +47,11 @@ except (ValueError, ImportError):
 
 libexecdir = os.path.realpath(__file__ + '/..')
 
-libc6 = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary('libc.so.6')
+sys_prctl = ctypes.CDLL(None).prctl
 
 
 def prctl(*args):
-    if libc6.prctl(*args) != 0:
+    if sys_prctl(*args) != 0:
         raise Exception('prctl() failed')
 
 
diff --git a/src/cockpit/transports.py b/src/cockpit/transports.py
index 913603544ac0..4fcf76121ee9 100644
--- a/src/cockpit/transports.py
+++ b/src/cockpit/transports.py
@@ -33,11 +33,11 @@
 
 from .jsonutil import JsonObject, get_int
 
-libc6 = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary('libc.so.6')
+sys_prctl = ctypes.CDLL(None).prctl
 
 
 def prctl(*args: int) -> None:
-    if libc6.prctl(*args) != 0:
+    if sys_prctl(*args) != 0:
         raise OSError('prctl() failed')