diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/profiles/coreos/base/package.use b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/profiles/coreos/base/package.use
index 38146c4f66..e2690ee99f 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/profiles/coreos/base/package.use
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/profiles/coreos/base/package.use
@@ -141,3 +141,6 @@ sys-libs/ldb -lmdb -python
 
 # Enable nftables backend for the iptables instead of legacy backend
 net-firewall/iptables nftables
+
+# Install `perl` with a minimal set of dependencies
+dev-lang/perl minimal