diff --git a/package/protobuf/Config.in b/package/protobuf/Config.in
index 3215a075f1..bccf258f62 100644
--- a/package/protobuf/Config.in
+++ b/package/protobuf/Config.in
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_PROTOBUF_ARCH_SUPPORTS
 	default y if BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ATOMIC
 	depends on !BR2_sparc64 # missing definition of Atomic64
 	depends on BR2_HOSTARCH = "x86_64" || BR2_HOSTARCH = "x86"
+	depends on BR2_USE_MMU # fork()
 
 config BR2_PACKAGE_PROTOBUF
 	bool "protobuf"