diff --git a/main/utils.c b/main/utils.c
index 8b3448f029..83ab65ac1e 100644
--- a/main/utils.c
+++ b/main/utils.c
@@ -1140,7 +1140,7 @@ long int ast_random(void)
 	if (dev_urandom_fd >= 0) {
 		int read_res = read(dev_urandom_fd, &res, sizeof(res));
 		if (read_res > 0)
-			return labs(res);
+			return res < 0 ? ~res : res;
 	}
 #endif
 #ifdef linux