diff --git a/extra/wpa_supplicant/build b/extra/wpa_supplicant/build
index ad25afb7..1d8d92a5 100755
--- a/extra/wpa_supplicant/build
+++ b/extra/wpa_supplicant/build
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ export LDFLAGS="-L$PWD/libnl"
 
     # CFLAGS must expand to individual arguments.
     # shellcheck disable=2086
-    $CC $CFLAGS $CPPFLAGS -c ./*.c
-    ar rc libnl-tiny.a ./*.o
+    ${CC:-cc} $CFLAGS $CPPFLAGS -c ./*.c
+    ${AR:-ar} rc libnl-tiny.a ./*.o
 )
 
 cd wpa_supplicant