diff --git a/src/libstd/ffi/c_str.rs b/src/libstd/ffi/c_str.rs
index 1c449712e1f7a..ab9a4e0c2847b 100644
--- a/src/libstd/ffi/c_str.rs
+++ b/src/libstd/ffi/c_str.rs
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ impl CString {
 #[stable(feature = "cstring_drop", since = "1.13.0")]
 impl Drop for CString {
     fn drop(&mut self) {
-        unsafe { *self.inner.get_unchecked_mut(0) = 0; }
+        unsafe { ptr::write_volatile(self.inner.as_mut_ptr(), 0u8) }
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/test/run-pass/auxiliary/allocator-leaking.rs b/src/test/run-pass/auxiliary/allocator-leaking.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..48575bd634a26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/run-pass/auxiliary/allocator-leaking.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+// Copyright 2016 The Rust Project Developers. See the COPYRIGHT
+// file at the top-level directory of this distribution and at
+// http://rust-lang.org/COPYRIGHT.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 <LICENSE-APACHE or
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0> or the MIT license
+// <LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT>, at your
+// option. This file may not be copied, modified, or distributed
+// except according to those terms.
+
+// no-prefer-dynamic
+
+#![feature(allocator, core_intrinsics, libc)]
+#![allocator]
+#![crate_type = "rlib"]
+#![no_std]
+
+extern crate libc;
+
+#[no_mangle]
+pub extern fn __rust_allocate(size: usize, align: usize) -> *mut u8 {
+    unsafe {
+        libc::malloc(size as libc::size_t) as *mut u8
+    }
+}
+
+#[no_mangle]
+pub extern fn __rust_deallocate(ptr: *mut u8, old_size: usize, align: usize) {
+    // Do nothing at all.
+}
+
+#[no_mangle]
+pub extern fn __rust_reallocate(ptr: *mut u8, old_size: usize, size: usize,
+                                align: usize) -> *mut u8 {
+    unsafe {
+        libc::realloc(ptr as *mut _, size as libc::size_t) as *mut u8
+    }
+}
+
+#[no_mangle]
+pub extern fn __rust_reallocate_inplace(ptr: *mut u8, old_size: usize,
+                                        size: usize, align: usize) -> usize {
+    unsafe { core::intrinsics::abort() }
+}
+
+#[no_mangle]
+pub extern fn __rust_usable_size(size: usize, align: usize) -> usize {
+    unsafe { core::intrinsics::abort() }
+}
diff --git a/src/test/run-pass/cstring-drop.rs b/src/test/run-pass/cstring-drop.rs
index 960391bb8deac..f56ddcc4dd162 100644
--- a/src/test/run-pass/cstring-drop.rs
+++ b/src/test/run-pass/cstring-drop.rs
@@ -8,42 +8,25 @@
 // option. This file may not be copied, modified, or distributed
 // except according to those terms.
 
-// ignore-emscripten
+// no-prefer-dynamic
+// aux-build:allocator-leaking.rs
 
 // Test that `CString::new("hello").unwrap().as_ptr()` pattern
 // leads to failure.
 
-use std::env;
-use std::ffi::{CString, CStr};
-use std::os::raw::c_char;
-use std::process::{Command, Stdio};
+extern crate allocator_leaking;
 
-fn main() {
-    let args: Vec<String> = env::args().collect();
-    if args.len() > 1 && args[1] == "child" {
-        // Repeat several times to be more confident that
-        // it is `Drop` for `CString` that does the cleanup,
-        // and not just some lucky UB.
-        let xs = vec![CString::new("Hello").unwrap(); 10];
-        let ys = xs.iter().map(|s| s.as_ptr()).collect::<Vec<_>>();
-        drop(xs);
-        assert!(ys.into_iter().any(is_hello));
-        return;
-    }
-
-    let output = Command::new(&args[0]).arg("child").output().unwrap();
-    assert!(!output.status.success());
-}
+use std::ffi::CString;
+use std::ptr;
 
-fn is_hello(s: *const c_char) -> bool {
-    // `s` is a dangling pointer and reading it is technically
+fn main() {
+    let ptr = CString::new("Hello").unwrap().as_ptr();
+    // `ptr` is a dangling pointer and reading it is almost always
     // undefined behavior. But we want to prevent the most diabolical
     // kind of UB (apart from nasal demons): reading a value that was
-    // previously written.
-    //
-    // Segfaulting or reading an empty string is Ok,
-    // reading "Hello" is bad.
-    let s = unsafe { CStr::from_ptr(s) };
-    let hello = CString::new("Hello").unwrap();
-    s == hello.as_ref()
+    // previously written. So we make sure that CString zeros the
+    // first byte in the `Drop`.
+    // To make the test itself UB-free we use a custom allocator
+    // which always leaks memory.
+    assert_eq!(unsafe { ptr::read(ptr as *const [u8; 6]) } , *b"\0ello\0");
 }