diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/fwts/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/fwts/default.nix
index 13560cd6a965..413833c51755 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/fwts/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/fwts/default.nix
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
   dmidecode,
   acpica-tools,
   libbsd,
+  zlib,
 }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
@@ -44,6 +45,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     dmidecode
     acpica-tools
     libbsd
+    zlib
   ];
 
   postPatch = ''
@@ -55,6 +57,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (finalAttrs: {
     substituteInPlace src/lib/src/fwts_devicetree.c \
                       src/devicetree/dt_base/dt_base.c \
       --replace-fail "dtc -I" "${dtc}/bin/dtc -I"
+
+    # libfwts uses gzopen/gzclose/gzgets but does not link zlib.
+    substituteInPlace src/lib/src/Makefile.am \
+      --replace-fail "-lm -lpthread -lbsd" "-lm -lpthread -lbsd -lz"
   '';
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;