diff --git a/pkgs/tools/misc/coreutils/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/misc/coreutils/default.nix
index 75798edf70e8..2c57f7cd26a4 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/misc/coreutils/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/misc/coreutils/default.nix
@@ -74,6 +74,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
     sed '2i print "Skipping id zero test"; exit 77' -i ./tests/id/zero.sh
     sed '2i print "Skipping misc help-versiob test"; exit 77' -i ./tests/misc/help-version.sh
     sed '2i print "Skipping chown separator test"; exit 77' -i ./tests/chown/separator.sh
+
+    # intermittent failures on builders, unknown reason
+    sed '2i echo Skipping du basic test && exit 77' -i ./tests/du/basic.sh
   '' + (optionalString (stdenv.hostPlatform.libc == "musl") (lib.concatStringsSep "\n" [
     ''
       echo "int main() { return 77; }" > gnulib-tests/test-parse-datetime.c