diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
index 3e80aa10cfd8d717c37850a23abade2321f134a4..5fe0edb1de5dc1e00c9004376b48700e01ad86e4 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
@@ -593,7 +593,7 @@ static int __run_perf_stat(int argc, const char **argv)
 
 	if (perf_evlist__apply_filters(evsel_list)) {
 		error("failed to set filter with %d (%s)\n", errno,
-			strerror(errno));
+			strerror_r(errno, msg, sizeof(msg)));
 		return -1;
 	}