diff --git a/mypy-requirements.txt b/mypy-requirements.txt
index a69d31088e55..385a5359e86f 100644
--- a/mypy-requirements.txt
+++ b/mypy-requirements.txt
@@ -4,4 +4,6 @@ typing_extensions>=4.6.0
 mypy_extensions>=1.0.0
 pathspec>=0.9.0
 tomli>=1.1.0; python_version<'3.11'
-librt>=0.5.0
+# pin exact version; its okay to allow a range of versions only when its known
+# that the entire range has the same abi version
+librt==0.5.0
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 42ff3a6ca019..1ae9fbd832fb 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ requires = [
     "mypy_extensions>=1.0.0",
     "pathspec>=0.9.0",
     "tomli>=1.1.0; python_version<'3.11'",
-    "librt>=0.5.0",
+    "librt==0.5.0",
     # the following is from build-requirements.txt
     "types-psutil",
     "types-setuptools",
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ dependencies = [
   "mypy_extensions>=1.0.0",
   "pathspec>=0.9.0",
   "tomli>=1.1.0; python_version<'3.11'",
-  "librt>=0.5.0",
+  "librt==0.5.0",
 ]
 dynamic = ["version"]