diff --git a/lib/libprocstat/core.c b/lib/libprocstat/core.c
index dea078c848e..cf3435a10c7 100644
--- a/lib/libprocstat/core.c
+++ b/lib/libprocstat/core.c
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ procstat_core_open(const char *filename)
 		warnx("%s is not a CORE file", filename);
 		goto fail;
 	}
-	if (elf_getphnum(e, &nph) == 0) {
+	if (elf_getphdrnum(e, &nph) == -1) {
 		warnx("program headers not found");
 		goto fail;
 	}