diff --git a/gnu/packages/base.scm b/gnu/packages/base.scm
index 114413bafc..1c652bcce4 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/base.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/base.scm
@@ -102,6 +102,15 @@ command-line arguments, multiple languages, and so on.")
    (arguments
     `(#:phases
       (modify-phases %standard-phases
+        (add-before 'check 'disable-failing-tests
+          (lambda _
+            ;; These tests are expected to fail due to a glibc bug which has
+            ;; been fixed in 2.28, so they are unexpectedly passing.  They
+            ;; should be fixed for grep versions > 3.1.
+            (substitute* "tests/Makefile.in"
+              (("^[[:blank:]]+backref-alt[[:blank:]]+\\\\") "\\")
+              (("^[[:blank:]]+triple-backref[[:blank:]]+\\\\") "\\"))
+            #t))
         (add-after 'install 'fix-egrep-and-fgrep
           ;; Patch 'egrep' and 'fgrep' to execute 'grep' via its
           ;; absolute file name instead of searching for it in $PATH.