diff --git a/arch/arm/src/common/Toolchain.defs b/arch/arm/src/common/Toolchain.defs
index acc943434e8..865efda11ca 100644
--- a/arch/arm/src/common/Toolchain.defs
+++ b/arch/arm/src/common/Toolchain.defs
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ else
    # Wrong warning array subscript [0] is outside array bounds:
    # https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=105523
 
-   ifeq ($(shell expr $(GCCVER) \>= 12), 1)
+   ifeq ($(shell expr "$(GCCVER)" \>= 12), 1)
      ARCHOPTIMIZATION += --param=min-pagesize=0
      ifeq ($(CONFIG_ARCH_RAMFUNCS),y)
        LDFLAGS += --no-warn-rwx-segments
diff --git a/libs/libxx/libcxx.defs b/libs/libxx/libcxx.defs
index c0e6a2af21a..d84e9419def 100644
--- a/libs/libxx/libcxx.defs
+++ b/libs/libxx/libcxx.defs
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ endif
 CXXFLAGS += -Wno-shadow -Wno-sign-compare
 CXXFLAGS += -Wno-attributes -Wno-deprecated-declarations
 
-ifeq ($(shell expr $(GCCVER) \>= 12), 1)
+ifeq ($(shell expr "$(GCCVER)" \>= 12), 1)
   CXXFLAGS += -Wno-maybe-uninitialized -Wno-alloc-size-larger-than
 endif