diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/profiles/coreos/base/make.defaults b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/profiles/coreos/base/make.defaults
index bf61ba59f4..995c5b3a69 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/profiles/coreos/base/make.defaults
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/profiles/coreos/base/make.defaults
@@ -46,6 +46,11 @@ BOOTSTRAP_USE="${BOOTSTRAP_USE} curl_ssl_openssl ssl"
 # Add `xml` USE flag to avoid build failures from sys-apps/portage 3.0.28
 BOOTSTRAP_USE="${BOOTSTRAP_USE} xml"
 
+# Add `bison` USE flag, so we pick a proper yacc alternative from
+# app-alternatives/yacc (normally bison is enabled by default, but
+# it's disabled during building stage2 for some reason).
+BOOTSTRAP_USE="${BOOTSTRAP_USE} bison"
+
 # Set SELinux policy
 POLICY_TYPES="targeted mcs mls"