diff --git a/changes/bug19213 b/changes/bug19213
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f912ffb0c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/bug19213
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+  o Minor bugfixes (compilation):
+    - Cause the unit tests to compile correctly on mingw64 versions
+      that lack sscanf. Fixes bug 19213. Bugfix on 0.2.7.1-alpha.
diff --git a/src/test/test_util.c b/src/test/test_util.c
index 2726c31fe8..c3c6035ba4 100644
--- a/src/test/test_util.c
+++ b/src/test/test_util.c
@@ -4664,7 +4664,7 @@ test_util_writepid(void *arg)
   contents = read_file_to_str(fname, 0, NULL);
   tt_assert(contents);
 
-  int n = sscanf(contents, "%lu\n%c", &pid, &c);
+  int n = tor_sscanf(contents, "%lu\n%c", &pid, &c);
   tt_int_op(n, OP_EQ, 1);
 
 #ifdef _WIN32