diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix b/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix
index 82cb72cb67e..fa7107bd738 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix
@@ -319,6 +319,7 @@ rec {
     origArgs = args;
     origBuilder = builder;
     QEMU_OPTS = "${QEMU_OPTS} -m ${toString memSize}";
+    passAsFile = []; # HACK fix - see https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/16742
   });