diff --git a/zdev/src/device.c b/zdev/src/device.c
index ea15abca..d17f7af4 100644
--- a/zdev/src/device.c
+++ b/zdev/src/device.c
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /*
  * zdev - Modify and display the persistent configuration of devices
  *
- * Copyright IBM Corp. 2016, 2017
+ * Copyright IBM Corp. 2016, 2019
  *
  * s390-tools is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
  * it under the terms of the MIT license. See LICENSE for details.
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 #include <stdarg.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
 
 #include "lib/util_path.h"
 
@@ -521,7 +522,7 @@ void device_read_active_settings(struct device *dev, read_scope_t scope)
 		s = setting_list_apply_actual(dev->active.settings, a, name,
 					      value);
 		if (link || (scope == scope_all &&
-			     !util_path_is_writable(path)))
+			     util_path_is_readonly_file("%s", path)))
 			s->readonly = 1;
 		if (link)
 			free(link);
diff --git a/zdev/src/module.c b/zdev/src/module.c
index 09acb86e..a8e1bbb7 100644
--- a/zdev/src/module.c
+++ b/zdev/src/module.c
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 #include <dirent.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
 
 #include "lib/util_path.h"
@@ -259,7 +260,7 @@ bool module_set_params(const char *mod, struct setting_list *settings)
 	struct setting *s;
 	char *path;
 	const char *value;
-	bool result;
+	bool readonly;
 	exit_code_t rc;
 
 	/* First check if all modified settings can be applied this way. */
@@ -277,9 +278,9 @@ bool module_set_params(const char *mod, struct setting_list *settings)
 			return false;
 		}
 		path = path_get_sys_module_param(mod, s->name);
-		result = util_path_is_writable(path);
+		readonly = util_path_is_readonly_file("%s", path);
 		free(path);
-		if (!result) {
+		if (readonly) {
 			/* Sysfs file is not writable. */
 			return false;
 		}