diff --git a/include/assert.h b/include/assert.h
index 51dae09542e..eabf6163bc2 100644
--- a/include/assert.h
+++ b/include/assert.h
@@ -43,9 +43,9 @@
 #undef DEBUGVERIFY  /* Like VERIFY, but only if CONFIG_DEBUG_ASSERTIONS is defined */
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_HAVE_FILENAME
-#  define PANIC()        _assert(__FILE__, __LINE__)
+#  define PANIC()        __assert(__FILE__, __LINE__)
 #else
-#  define PANIC()        _assert("unknown", 0)
+#  define PANIC()        __assert("unknown", 0)
 #endif
 
 #define ASSERT(f)        do { if (!(f)) PANIC(); } while (0)
@@ -106,7 +106,26 @@ extern "C"
  * Public Function Prototypes
  ****************************************************************************/
 
-void _assert(FAR const char *filename, int linenum) noreturn_function;
+/****************************************************************************
+ * Name: _assert
+ *
+ * Description:
+ *   This is the assert system call that performs the core dump etc. Function
+ *   might not return if it is not safe to do so (in IRQ or in IDLE task).
+ *
+ ****************************************************************************/
+
+void _assert(FAR const char *filename, int linenum);
+
+/****************************************************************************
+ * Name: __assert
+ *
+ * Description:
+ *   This is the user space assert procedure.
+ *
+ ****************************************************************************/
+
+void __assert(FAR const char *filename, int linenum) noreturn_function;
 
 #undef EXTERN
 #ifdef __cplusplus
diff --git a/libs/libc/assert/Make.defs b/libs/libc/assert/Make.defs
index 0b1f03f408d..dfe45759d41 100644
--- a/libs/libc/assert/Make.defs
+++ b/libs/libc/assert/Make.defs
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 #
 ############################################################################
 
+CSRCS += lib_assert.c
+
 ifeq ($(CONFIG_STACK_CANARIES),y)
 CSRCS += lib_stackchk.c
 endif
diff --git a/libs/libc/assert/lib_assert.c b/libs/libc/assert/lib_assert.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7a0d96f39e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libs/libc/assert/lib_assert.c
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/****************************************************************************
+ * libs/libc/assert/lib_assert.c
+ *
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.  The
+ * ASF licenses this file to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the
+ * License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+ * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.  See the
+ * License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ *
+ ****************************************************************************/
+
+/****************************************************************************
+ * Included Files
+ ****************************************************************************/
+
+#include <nuttx/arch.h>
+
+#include <assert.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+
+/****************************************************************************
+ * Public Functions
+ ****************************************************************************/
+
+void __assert(FAR const char *filename, int linenum)
+{
+  _assert(filename, linenum);
+  exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+}
diff --git a/sched/misc/assert.c b/sched/misc/assert.c
index 1c51e04fd40..3a74e183809 100644
--- a/sched/misc/assert.c
+++ b/sched/misc/assert.c
@@ -544,5 +544,4 @@ void _assert(FAR const char *filename, int linenum)
   showtasks();
 
   assert_end();
-  exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
 }
diff --git a/syscall/syscall.csv b/syscall/syscall.csv
index f5909bf2959..f41e0650fdf 100644
--- a/syscall/syscall.csv
+++ b/syscall/syscall.csv
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 "_exit","unistd.h","","noreturn","int"
-"_assert","assert.h","","noreturn","FAR const char *","int"
+"_assert","assert.h","","void","FAR const char *","int"
 "accept","sys/socket.h","defined(CONFIG_NET)","int","int","FAR struct sockaddr *","FAR socklen_t *"
 "adjtime","sys/time.h","defined(CONFIG_CLOCK_TIMEKEEPING)","int","FAR const struct timeval *","FAR struct timeval *"
 "aio_cancel","aio.h","defined(CONFIG_FS_AIO)","int","int","FAR struct aiocb *"