diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index f5d960f9d92..d87b7670339 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -379,8 +379,21 @@ int main() {
 }]])], GCC_ATOMIC_BUILTINS_SUPPORTED=1)
 if test "x$GCC_ATOMIC_BUILTINS_SUPPORTED" = x1; then
     DEFINES="$DEFINES -DUSE_GCC_ATOMIC_BUILTINS"
+    dnl On some platforms, new-style atomics need a helper library
+    AC_MSG_CHECKING(whether -latomic is needed)
+    AC_LINK_IFELSE([AC_LANG_SOURCE([[
+    #include <stdint.h>
+    uint64_t v;
+    int main() {
+        return (int)__atomic_load_n(&v, __ATOMIC_ACQUIRE);
+    }]])], GCC_ATOMIC_BUILTINS_NEED_LIBATOMIC=no, GCC_ATOMIC_BUILTINS_NEED_LIBATOMIC=yes)
+    AC_MSG_RESULT($GCC_ATOMIC_BUILTINS_NEED_LIBATOMIC)
+    if test "x$GCC_ATOMIC_BUILTINS_NEED_LIBATOMIC" = xyes; then
+        LIBATOMIC_LIBS="-latomic"
+    fi
 fi
 AM_CONDITIONAL([GCC_ATOMIC_BUILTINS_SUPPORTED], [test x$GCC_ATOMIC_BUILTINS_SUPPORTED = x1])
+AC_SUBST([LIBATOMIC_LIBS])
 
 dnl Check if host supports 64-bit atomics
 dnl note that lack of support usually results in link (not compile) error
diff --git a/src/util/Makefile.am b/src/util/Makefile.am
index 9885bbe9685..c37afff7520 100644
--- a/src/util/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/util/Makefile.am
@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@ libmesautil_la_SOURCES = \
 
 libmesautil_la_LIBADD = \
 	$(CLOCK_LIB) \
-	$(ZLIB_LIBS)
+	$(ZLIB_LIBS) \
+	$(LIBATOMIC_LIBS)
 
 libxmlconfig_la_SOURCES = $(XMLCONFIG_FILES)
 libxmlconfig_la_CFLAGS = \