diff --git a/config/user.m4 b/config/user.m4
index 4e31745a2abc..badd920d2b8a 100644
--- a/config/user.m4
+++ b/config/user.m4
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ AC_DEFUN([ZFS_AC_CONFIG_USER], [
 	ZFS_AC_CONFIG_USER_MAKEDEV_IN_MKDEV
 	ZFS_AC_CONFIG_USER_ZFSEXEC
 
-	AC_CHECK_FUNCS([execvpe issetugid mlockall strerror_l strlcat strlcpy gettid])
+	AC_CHECK_FUNCS([execvpe issetugid mlockall strlcat strlcpy gettid])
 
 	AC_SUBST(RM)
 ])
diff --git a/include/libzutil.h b/include/libzutil.h
index 3a527410fd73..bff2e13b29d9 100644
--- a/include/libzutil.h
+++ b/include/libzutil.h
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 #define	_LIBZUTIL_H extern __attribute__((visibility("default")))
 
 #include <string.h>
-#include <locale.h>
+#include <pthread.h>
 #include <sys/nvpair.h>
 #include <sys/fs/zfs.h>
 
@@ -274,11 +274,14 @@ _LIBZUTIL_H void update_vdev_config_dev_sysfs_path(nvlist_t *nv,
  * Thread-safe strerror() for use in ZFS libraries
  */
 static inline char *zfs_strerror(int errnum) {
-#ifdef HAVE_STRERROR_L
-	return (strerror_l(errnum, uselocale(0)));
-#else
-	return (strerror(errnum));
-#endif
+	static __thread char errbuf[512];
+	static pthread_mutex_t zfs_strerror_lock = PTHREAD_MUTEX_INITIALIZER;
+
+	(void) pthread_mutex_lock(&zfs_strerror_lock);
+	(void) strlcpy(errbuf, strerror(errnum), sizeof (errbuf));
+	(void) pthread_mutex_unlock(&zfs_strerror_lock);
+
+	return (errbuf);
 }
 
 #ifdef	__cplusplus