diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/cc-wrapper/default.nix b/pkgs/build-support/cc-wrapper/default.nix
index 7717c5015cb7..f4a78254d3de 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/cc-wrapper/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/cc-wrapper/default.nix
@@ -733,7 +733,7 @@ stdenvNoCC.mkDerivation {
 
     # for substitution in utils.bash
     # TODO(@sternenseemann): invent something cleaner than passing in "" in case of absence
-    expandResponseParams = "${expand-response-params}/bin/expand-response-params";
+    expandResponseParams = lib.optionalString (expand-response-params != "") (lib.getExe expand-response-params);
     # TODO(@sternenseemann): rename env var via stdenv rebuild
     shell = getBin runtimeShell + runtimeShell.shellPath or "";
     gnugrep_bin = optionalString (!nativeTools) gnugrep;