diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc/common-make-native-bignum.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc/common-make-native-bignum.nix
index 2300e0470ca79..5d05d4b298b8a 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc/common-make-native-bignum.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/ghc/common-make-native-bignum.nix
@@ -536,6 +536,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation (
     ]
     ++ lib.optionals enableUnregisterised [
       "--enable-unregisterised"
+      # The C backend generates code incompatible with gnu23
+      "CONF_CC_OPTS_STAGE2=-std=gnu17"
     ];
 
     # Make sure we never relax`$PATH` and hooks support for compatibility.