diff --git a/utils/genrandconfig b/utils/genrandconfig
index c2ca30f51e..fba2b0a009 100755
--- a/utils/genrandconfig
+++ b/utils/genrandconfig
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ def is_toolchain_usable(configfile, config):
            'BR2_TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_LINARO_AARCH64_BE=y\n' in configlines or \
            'BR2_TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_LINARO_ARMEB=y\n' in configlines:
             ldd_version_output = subprocess.check_output(['ldd', '--version'])
-            glibc_version = ldd_version_output.splitlines()[0].split()[-1]
+            glibc_version = ldd_version_output.decode().splitlines()[0].split()[-1]
             if StrictVersion('2.14') > StrictVersion(glibc_version):
                 print("WARN: ignoring the Linaro ARM toolchains because too old host glibc", file=sys.stderr)
                 return False