diff --git a/package/systemd/Config.in b/package/systemd/Config.in
index bd638477a0..4afe694413 100644
--- a/package/systemd/Config.in
+++ b/package/systemd/Config.in
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ menuconfig BR2_PACKAGE_SYSTEMD
 	depends on !BR2_STATIC_LIBS # kmod
 	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS # dbus
 	depends on BR2_USE_MMU # dbus
+	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_GCC_AT_LEAST_5
+	depends on BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_5 # host-systemd
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_HAS_UDEV
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_DBUS # runtime dependency only
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBCAP
diff --git a/package/systemd/Config.in.host b/package/systemd/Config.in.host
index 219f24239e..8e00bcf5c1 100644
--- a/package/systemd/Config.in.host
+++ b/package/systemd/Config.in.host
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 # Select this if you need host systemd tools (e.g. systemctl)
 config BR2_PACKAGE_HOST_SYSTEMD
 	bool
+	depends on BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_5
diff --git a/system/Config.in b/system/Config.in
index c8c5be40e0..cdf9df61a7 100644
--- a/system/Config.in
+++ b/system/Config.in
@@ -121,15 +121,19 @@ config BR2_INIT_SYSTEMD
 	depends on BR2_USE_MMU
 	depends on !BR2_STATIC_LIBS
 	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HEADERS_AT_LEAST_3_10
+	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_GCC_AT_LEAST_5
+	depends on BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_5
 	select BR2_ROOTFS_MERGED_USR
 	select BR2_PACKAGE_SYSTEMD
 
-comment "systemd needs a glibc toolchain w/ SSP, headers >= 3.10"
+comment "systemd needs a glibc toolchain w/ SSP, headers >= 3.10, host and target gcc >= 5"
 	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_SYSTEMD_ARCH_SUPPORTS
 	depends on BR2_USE_MMU
 	depends on !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_USES_GLIBC || \
 		!BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_SSP || \
-		!BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HEADERS_AT_LEAST_3_10
+		!BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HEADERS_AT_LEAST_3_10 || \
+		!BR2_TOOLCHAIN_GCC_AT_LEAST_5 || \
+		!BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_5
 
 config BR2_INIT_NONE
 	bool "None"