diff --git a/src/syscall/syscall_linux_test.go b/src/syscall/syscall_linux_test.go
index d196534c64..0742ef5b07 100644
--- a/src/syscall/syscall_linux_test.go
+++ b/src/syscall/syscall_linux_test.go
@@ -410,6 +410,9 @@ const (
 // syscalls that execute on all OSThreads - with which to support
 // POSIX semantics for security state changes.
 func TestAllThreadsSyscall(t *testing.T) {
+	if runtime.GOARCH == "ppc64" {
+		t.Skip("skipping on linux/ppc64; see issue #42178")
+	}
 	if _, _, err := syscall.AllThreadsSyscall(syscall.SYS_PRCTL, PR_SET_KEEPCAPS, 0, 0); err == syscall.ENOTSUP {
 		t.Skip("AllThreadsSyscall disabled with cgo")
 	}
@@ -577,6 +580,9 @@ func compareStatus(filter, expect string) error {
 // the syscalls. Care should be taken to mirror any enhancements to
 // this test here in that file too.
 func TestSetuidEtc(t *testing.T) {
+	if runtime.GOARCH == "ppc64" {
+		t.Skip("skipping on linux/ppc64; see issue #42178")
+	}
 	if syscall.Getuid() != 0 {
 		t.Skip("skipping root only test")
 	}