diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/firefox/common.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/firefox/common.nix
index 1c6ddfc99eb..93dd5e527e3 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/firefox/common.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/browsers/firefox/common.nix
@@ -160,7 +160,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   ]
   ++ lib.optionals (!isTorBrowserLike) [
     "-I${nss.dev}/include/nss"
-  ];
+  ]
+  ++ lib.optional (pname == "firefox-esr" && lib.versionAtLeast ffversion "68"
+                                          && lib.versionOlder ffversion "69")
+    "-Wno-error=format-security";
 
   postPatch = lib.optionalString (lib.versionAtLeast ffversion "63.0" && !isTorBrowserLike) ''
     substituteInPlace third_party/prio/prio/rand.c --replace 'nspr/prinit.h' 'prinit.h'