diff --git a/tests/libs/dlopen_b.cpp b/tests/libs/dlopen_b.cpp
index 34f288122..5291d81fa 100644
--- a/tests/libs/dlopen_b.cpp
+++ b/tests/libs/dlopen_b.cpp
@@ -1,7 +1,15 @@
 #include <dlfcn.h>
 extern "C" void *dlopen_b() {
+  // TODO (dimitry): this is to work around http://b/20049306
+  // remove once it is fixed
+  static int dummy = 0;
+
   // This is not supposed to succeed. Even though this library has DT_RUNPATH
   // for libtest_dt_runpath_x.so, it is not taked into account for dlopen.
   void *handle = dlopen("libtest_dt_runpath_x.so", RTLD_NOW);
-  return handle;
+  if (handle != nullptr) {
+    dummy++;
+    return handle;
+  }
+  return nullptr;
 }