diff --git a/tools/perf/ui/browsers/hists.c b/tools/perf/ui/browsers/hists.c
index 482f0517b61e..413bd62eedb1 100644
--- a/tools/perf/ui/browsers/hists.c
+++ b/tools/perf/ui/browsers/hists.c
@@ -978,8 +978,8 @@ static int hist_browser__dump(struct hist_browser *browser)
 	fp = fopen(filename, "w");
 	if (fp == NULL) {
 		char bf[64];
-		strerror_r(errno, bf, sizeof(bf));
-		ui_helpline__fpush("Couldn't write to %s: %s", filename, bf);
+		const char *err = strerror_r(errno, bf, sizeof(bf));
+		ui_helpline__fpush("Couldn't write to %s: %s", filename, err);
 		return -1;
 	}
 
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/target.c b/tools/perf/util/target.c
index 1064d5b148ad..3f59c496e64c 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/target.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/target.c
@@ -110,8 +110,17 @@ int perf_target__strerror(struct perf_target *target, int errnum,
 	int idx;
 	const char *msg;
 
+	BUG_ON(buflen > 0);
+
 	if (errnum >= 0) {
-		strerror_r(errnum, buf, buflen);
+		const char *err = strerror_r(errnum, buf, buflen);
+
+		if (err != buf) {
+			size_t len = strlen(err);
+			char *c = mempcpy(buf, err, min(buflen - 1, len));
+			*c = '\0';
+		}
+
 		return 0;
 	}