--- a/mingw-w64-headers/crt/_mingw_mac.h
+++ b/mingw-w64-headers/crt/_mingw_mac.h
@@ -301,7 +301,12 @@
 #  define __mingw_attribute_artificial
 #endif
 
-#if _FORTIFY_SOURCE > 0 && __OPTIMIZE__ > 0 && __MINGW_GNUC_PREREQ(4, 1)
+/* __SSP__ is a workaround to avoid reference to libssp when user did not request it:
+ *     https://sourceforge.net/p/mingw-w64/bugs/818/
+ * Otherwise it breaks both USE=ssp gcc bootstrap and projects that happen to use
+ * strcpy/memcpy.
+ */
+#if _FORTIFY_SOURCE > 0 && __OPTIMIZE__ > 0 && __MINGW_GNUC_PREREQ(4, 1) && __SSP__ > 0
 #  if _FORTIFY_SOURCE > 1
 #    define __MINGW_FORTIFY_LEVEL 2
 #  else