diff --git a/test/syscalls/linux/BUILD b/test/syscalls/linux/BUILD
index 71540490e..9f3f53920 100644
--- a/test/syscalls/linux/BUILD
+++ b/test/syscalls/linux/BUILD
@@ -4649,6 +4649,8 @@ cc_binary(
     testonly = 1,
     srcs = ["process_vm_read_write.cc"],
     linkstatic = 1,
+    # tcmalloc isn't fork-safe.
+    tcmalloc = False,
     deps = [
         gtest,
         "//test/util:logging",
diff --git a/tools/bazeldefs/cc.bzl b/tools/bazeldefs/cc.bzl
index 57d33726a..d13ede510 100644
--- a/tools/bazeldefs/cc.bzl
+++ b/tools/bazeldefs/cc.bzl
@@ -26,12 +26,13 @@ cc_flags_supplier = rule(
 def cc_grpc_library(name, **kwargs):
     _cc_grpc_library(name = name, grpc_only = True, **kwargs)
 
-def cc_binary(name, static = False, **kwargs):
+def cc_binary(name, static = False, tcmalloc = False, **kwargs):
     """Run cc_binary.
 
     Args:
         name: name of the target.
         static: make a static binary if True
+        tcmalloc: use TCMalloc if True (not implemented)
         **kwargs: the rest of the args.
     """
     if static:
@@ -46,6 +47,10 @@ def cc_binary(name, static = False, **kwargs):
             "-lpthread",
             "-Wl,--no-whole-archive",
         ]
+    if tcmalloc:
+        # buildifier: disable=print
+        print("Warning: tcmalloc can't be enabled")
+
     _cc_binary(
         name = name,
         **kwargs