diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/util-linux/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/util-linux/default.nix
index de49fe5182a3..124b95ee04c5 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/util-linux/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/util-linux/default.nix
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "1q5vjcvw4f067c63vj2n3xggvk5prm11571x6vnqiav47vdbqvni";
   };
 
+  patches = [ ./linux-specific-header.patch ];
+
   crossAttrs = {
     # Work around use of `AC_RUN_IFELSE'.
     preConfigure = "export scanf_cv_type_modifier=ms";
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/util-linux/linux-specific-header.patch b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/util-linux/linux-specific-header.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8d0b57dea3fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/util-linux/linux-specific-header.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+The <asm/param.h> header is Linux-only and breaks GNU/Hurd builds.
+
+--- util-linux-2.20.1/term-utils/write.c	2012-03-07 23:06:14.000000000 +0100
++++ util-linux-2.20.1/term-utils/write.c	2012-03-07 23:06:19.000000000 +0100
+@@ -57,7 +57,9 @@
+ #include <sys/param.h>
+ #include <sys/stat.h>
+ #include <paths.h>
+-#include <asm/param.h>
++#ifdef __linux__
++# include <asm/param.h>
++#endif
+ #include <getopt.h>
+ #include "c.h"
+ #include "carefulputc.h"
+