diff --git a/toolchain/Config.in b/toolchain/Config.in
index 121ddb4fa4..77f95ee1c3 100644
--- a/toolchain/Config.in
+++ b/toolchain/Config.in
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ config BR2_TOOLCHAIN_USES_GLIBC
 	select BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
 	select BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS_DEBUG
 	select BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS_NPTL
-	select BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_SHADOW_PASSWORDS
 	select BR2_TOOLCHAIN_SUPPORTS_PIE
 
 config BR2_TOOLCHAIN_USES_UCLIBC
@@ -43,7 +42,6 @@ choice
 config BR2_TOOLCHAIN_BUILDROOT
 	bool "Buildroot toolchain"
 	depends on BR2_ARCH_HAS_TOOLCHAIN_BUILDROOT
-	select BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_SHADOW_PASSWORDS
 
 config BR2_TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL
 	bool "External toolchain"
@@ -108,9 +106,6 @@ config BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS_DEBUG
 config BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS_NPTL
 	bool
 
-config BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_SHADOW_PASSWORDS
-	bool
-
 config BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_SSP
 	bool
 
diff --git a/toolchain/toolchain-external/toolchain-external-custom/Config.in.options b/toolchain/toolchain-external/toolchain-external-custom/Config.in.options
index 65d94d0adf..55370e967a 100644
--- a/toolchain/toolchain-external/toolchain-external-custom/Config.in.options
+++ b/toolchain/toolchain-external/toolchain-external-custom/Config.in.options
@@ -277,9 +277,6 @@ choice
 config BR2_TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_CUSTOM_UCLIBC
 	bool "uClibc/uClibc-ng"
 	select BR2_TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_UCLIBC
-	# For the time being, we assume that all custom external
-	# toolchains have shadow password support.
-	select BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_SHADOW_PASSWORDS
 	help
 	  Select this option if your external toolchain uses the
 	  uClibc (available from http://www.uclibc.org/)