diff --git a/winsup/utils/strace.cc b/winsup/utils/strace.cc
index beab67b90..ae62cdc5f 100644
--- a/winsup/utils/strace.cc
+++ b/winsup/utils/strace.cc
@@ -1191,7 +1191,7 @@ main (int argc, char **argv)
      registry setting to 0x100000 (TOP_DOWN). */
   char buf[CYGTLS_PADSIZE];
 
-  memset (buf, 0, sizeof (buf));
+  RtlSecureZeroMemory (buf, sizeof (buf));
   exit (main2 (argc, argv));
 }