diff --git a/src/cf/functions.m4 b/src/cf/functions.m4
index ac4f5d9375..442f759f14 100644
--- a/src/cf/functions.m4
+++ b/src/cf/functions.m4
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ AC_CHECK_FUNCS([ \
     getuid \
     getrlimit \
     issetugid \
+    mkdtemp \
     mkstemp \
     openlog \
     poll \
diff --git a/tests/auth/writekeyfile.c b/tests/auth/writekeyfile.c
index 2387da062f..a622ce0ad3 100644
--- a/tests/auth/writekeyfile.c
+++ b/tests/auth/writekeyfile.c
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
     int code;
 
     snprintf(buffer, sizeof(buffer), "%s/afs_XXXXXX", gettmpdir());
-    mkdtemp(buffer);
+    afstest_mkdtemp(buffer);
     dirEnd = buffer + strlen(buffer);
 
     /* Create a CellServDB file */
diff --git a/tests/common/common.h b/tests/common/common.h
index e1a407c9da..88bd745aab 100644
--- a/tests/common/common.h
+++ b/tests/common/common.h
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 /* config.c */
 extern char *afstest_BuildTestConfig(void);
 extern void afstest_UnlinkTestConfig(char *);
+extern char *afstest_mkdtemp(char *template);
 
 struct afsconf_dir;
 extern int afstest_AddDESKeyFile(struct afsconf_dir *dir);
diff --git a/tests/common/config.c b/tests/common/config.c
index 6a0e3e1ef2..debd71e390 100644
--- a/tests/common/config.c
+++ b/tests/common/config.c
@@ -61,6 +61,30 @@ unlinkConfigFile(char *dirname, char *filename) {
     }
 }
 
+/*!
+ *  Wrapper for mkdtemp
+ */
+
+char *
+afstest_mkdtemp(char *template)
+{
+#if defined(HAVE_MKDTEMP)
+    return mkdtemp(template);
+#else
+    /*
+     * Note that using the following is not a robust replacement
+     * for mkdtemp as there is a possible race condition between
+     * creating the name and creating the directory itself.  The
+     * use of this routine is limited to running tests.
+     */
+    if (mktemp(template) == NULL)
+	return NULL;
+    if (mkdir(template, 0700))
+	return NULL;
+    return template;
+#endif
+}
+
 /*!
  * Build a test configuration directory, containing a CellServDB and ThisCell
  * file for the "example.org" cell
@@ -82,7 +106,7 @@ afstest_BuildTestConfig(void) {
     if (asprintf(&dir, "%s/afs_XXXXXX", gettmpdir()) == -1)
 	goto fail;
 
-    if (mkdtemp(dir) == NULL)
+    if (afstest_mkdtemp(dir) == NULL)
 	goto fail;
 
     /* Work out which IP address to use in our CellServDB. We figure this out