diff --git a/Config.in b/Config.in
index 52fb53bc6a..584a1f087f 100644
--- a/Config.in
+++ b/Config.in
@@ -67,6 +67,9 @@ config BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_8
 	default y if BR2_HOST_GCC_VERSION = "8"
 	select BR2_HOST_GCC_AT_LEAST_7
 
+# When adding new entries above, be sure to update
+# the HOSTCC_MAX_VERSION variable in the Makefile.
+
 # Hidden boolean selected by packages in need of Java in order to build
 # (example: kodi)
 config BR2_NEEDS_HOST_JAVA
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 83f64f491d..a3db8987eb 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -360,8 +360,14 @@ export HOSTARCH := $(shell LC_ALL=C $(HOSTCC_NOCCACHE) -v 2>&1 | \
 	    -e 's/macppc/powerpc/' \
 	    -e 's/sh.*/sh/' )
 
-HOSTCC_VERSION := $(shell $(HOSTCC_NOCCACHE) --version | \
-	sed -n -r 's/^.* ([0-9]*)\.([0-9]*)\.([0-9]*)[ ]*.*/\1 \2/p')
+# When adding a new host gcc version in Config.in,
+# update the HOSTCC_MAX_VERSION variable:
+HOSTCC_MAX_VERSION := 8
+
+HOSTCC_VERSION := $(shell V=$$($(HOSTCC_NOCCACHE) --version | \
+	sed -n -r 's/^.* ([0-9]*)\.([0-9]*)\.([0-9]*)[ ]*.*/\1 \2/p'); \
+	[ "$${V%% *}" -le $(HOSTCC_MAX_VERSION) ] || V=$(HOSTCC_MAX_VERSION); \
+	printf "%s" "$${V}")
 
 # For gcc >= 5.x, we only need the major version.
 ifneq ($(firstword $(HOSTCC_VERSION)),4)