diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 6b475b244..e5f813ef7 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -403,6 +403,7 @@ check_functions = [
   ['gettid', '#include <unistd.h>', ['-D_GNU_SOURCE'], []],
   ['memfd_create', '#include <sys/mman.h>', ['-D_GNU_SOURCE'], []],
   ['getrandom', '#include <stddef.h>\n#include <sys/random.h>', ['-D_GNU_SOURCE'], []],
+  ['random_r', '#include <stdlib.h>', ['-D_GNU_SOURCE'], []],
   ['reallocarray', '#include <stdlib.h>', ['-D_GNU_SOURCE'], []],
   ['sigabbrev_np', '#include <string.h>', ['-D_GNU_SOURCE'], []],
   ['XSetIOErrorExitHandler', '#include <X11/Xlib.h>', [], [x11_dep]],
diff --git a/src/pipewire/utils.c b/src/pipewire/utils.c
index 7af984ee8..76b9693b2 100644
--- a/src/pipewire/utils.c
+++ b/src/pipewire/utils.c
@@ -197,8 +197,10 @@ ssize_t pw_getrandom(void *buf, size_t buflen, unsigned int flags)
 	return res;
 }
 
+#ifdef HAVE_RANDOM_R
 static char statebuf[256];
 static struct random_data random_state;
+#endif
 
 /** Fill a buffer with random data
  * \param buf a buffer to fill
@@ -215,7 +217,11 @@ void pw_random(void *buf, size_t buflen)
 		uint8_t *p = buf;
 		while (buflen-- > 0) {
 			int32_t val;
+#ifdef HAVE_RANDOM_R
 			random_r(&random_state, &val);
+#else
+			val = rand();
+#endif
 			*p++ = (uint8_t) val;;
 		}
 	}
@@ -229,7 +235,11 @@ void pw_random_init()
 		clock_gettime(CLOCK_REALTIME, &ts);
 		seed = (unsigned int) SPA_TIMESPEC_TO_NSEC(&ts);
 	}
+#ifdef HAVE_RANDOM_R
 	initstate_r(seed, statebuf, sizeof(statebuf), &random_state);
+#else
+	srand(seed);
+#endif
 }
 
 SPA_EXPORT