diff --git a/include/qemu-common.h b/include/qemu-common.h
index 68b2e3bc1091..8c0d9ab0f771 100644
--- a/include/qemu-common.h
+++ b/include/qemu-common.h
@@ -26,8 +26,6 @@
 int qemu_main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp);
 #endif
 
-void *qemu_oom_check(void *ptr);
-
 ssize_t qemu_write_full(int fd, const void *buf, size_t count)
     QEMU_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT;
 
diff --git a/util/oslib-posix.c b/util/oslib-posix.c
index f2be7321c59f..ed5974d38457 100644
--- a/util/oslib-posix.c
+++ b/util/oslib-posix.c
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ bool qemu_write_pidfile(const char *path, Error **errp)
     return false;
 }
 
-void *qemu_oom_check(void *ptr)
+static void *qemu_oom_check(void *ptr)
 {
     if (ptr == NULL) {
         fprintf(stderr, "Failed to allocate memory: %s\n", strerror(errno));
diff --git a/util/oslib-win32.c b/util/oslib-win32.c
index af559ef3398d..c87e6977246d 100644
--- a/util/oslib-win32.c
+++ b/util/oslib-win32.c
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
 /* this must come after including "trace.h" */
 #include <shlobj.h>
 
-void *qemu_oom_check(void *ptr)
+static void *qemu_oom_check(void *ptr)
 {
     if (ptr == NULL) {
         fprintf(stderr, "Failed to allocate memory: %lu\n", GetLastError());