diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libffi/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libffi/default.nix
index 7387a4a1f062..0971091d8a10 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libffi/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libffi/default.nix
@@ -7,11 +7,6 @@
 , dejagnu
 }:
 
-# Note: this package is used for bootstrapping fetchurl, and thus
-# cannot use fetchpatch! All mutable patches (generated by GitHub or
-# cgit) that are needed here should be included directly in Nixpkgs as
-# files.
-
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   pname = "libffi";
   version = "3.4.2";
@@ -21,7 +16,13 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "081nx7wpzds168jbr59m34n6s3lyiq6r8zggvqxvlslsc4hvf3sl";
   };
 
-  patches = [];
+  # Note: this package is used for bootstrapping fetchurl, and thus
+  # cannot use fetchpatch! All mutable patches (generated by GitHub or
+  # cgit) that are needed here should be included directly in Nixpkgs as
+  # files.
+  patches = [
+    ./libffi-powerpc64.patch
+  ];
 
   strictDeps = true;
   outputs = [ "out" "dev" "man" "info" ];
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libffi/libffi-powerpc64.patch b/pkgs/development/libraries/libffi/libffi-powerpc64.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5748ac084982
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libffi/libffi-powerpc64.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+https://github.com/libffi/libffi/issues/668
+--- a/src/powerpc/linux64.S
++++ b/src/powerpc/linux64.S
+@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@
+ #include <fficonfig.h>
+ #include <ffi.h>
+ 
++	.machine altivec
++
+ #ifdef POWERPC64
+ 	.hidden	ffi_call_LINUX64
+ 	.globl	ffi_call_LINUX64
+--- a/src/powerpc/linux64_closure.S
++++ b/src/powerpc/linux64_closure.S
+@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@
+ 
+ 	.file	"linux64_closure.S"
+ 
++	.machine altivec
++
+ #ifdef POWERPC64
+ 	FFI_HIDDEN (ffi_closure_LINUX64)
+ 	.globl  ffi_closure_LINUX64