diff --git a/tools/perf/util/comm.c b/tools/perf/util/comm.c
index 530a62a7b51e..7bc981b6bf29 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/comm.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/comm.c
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 #include <errno.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
+#include <string.h>
 #include <linux/refcount.h>
 
 struct comm_str {
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/namespaces.c b/tools/perf/util/namespaces.c
index 2de8da64d90c..67dcbcc73c7d 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/namespaces.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/namespaces.c
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 #include "event.h"
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
+#include <string.h>
 
 struct namespaces *namespaces__new(struct namespaces_event *event)
 {
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/util.h b/tools/perf/util/util.h
index c014b2fc22b3..b8dfbe1d9670 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/util.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/util.h
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
 #include <stddef.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdarg.h>
-#include <string.h>
 #include <sys/wait.h>
 #include <poll.h>
 #include <linux/types.h>
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/xyarray.c b/tools/perf/util/xyarray.c
index c10ba41ef3f6..7251fdbabced 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/xyarray.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/xyarray.c
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #include "xyarray.h"
 #include "util.h"
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
 
 struct xyarray *xyarray__new(int xlen, int ylen, size_t entry_size)
 {