diff --git a/package/wireshark/wireshark.mk b/package/wireshark/wireshark.mk
index d2b3ec4e4e..a141ca3e2a 100644
--- a/package/wireshark/wireshark.mk
+++ b/package/wireshark/wireshark.mk
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ WIRESHARK_CONF_ENV = \
 WIRESHARK_CONF_OPTS = \
 	--enable-static=no \
 	--without-bcg729 \
-	--without-libxml2 \
 	--without-lz4 \
 	--without-nghttp2 \
 	--without-snappy \
@@ -96,6 +95,13 @@ else
 WIRESHARK_CONF_OPTS += --without-libssh
 endif
 
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_LIBXML2),y)
+WIRESHARK_CONF_OPTS += --with-libxml2
+WIRESHARK_DEPENDENCIES += libxml2
+else
+WIRESHARK_CONF_OPTS += --without-libxml2
+endif
+
 # no support for lua53 yet
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_LUA_5_1)$(BR2_PACKAGE_LUA_5_2),y)
 WIRESHARK_CONF_OPTS += --with-lua