diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/patchelf/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/patchelf/default.nix
index 66ac8c66096d..fc71c4aa4ea4 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/patchelf/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/patchelf/default.nix
@@ -21,7 +21,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
   # fails 8 out of 24 tests, problems when loading libc.so.6
-  doCheck = stdenv.name == "stdenv-linux";
+  doCheck = stdenv.name == "stdenv-linux"
+    # test scripts require unprefixed bintools binaries
+    # https://github.com/NixOS/patchelf/issues/417
+    && stdenv.cc.targetPrefix == "";
 
   meta = with lib; {
     homepage = "https://github.com/NixOS/patchelf";