diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 28daa0fb6a42babdd97f9b203a233093b02cf342..1973a2c0183402fb52a0302893940b4d29ce327f 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -58,5 +58,7 @@ script:
   # in the makefile
   - if [ $REPO_PROJ == "fvp" ]; then mkdir -p $HOME/$REPO_PROJ/Foundation_Platformpkg; fi
   - cd $HOME/$REPO_PROJ && repo init -u https://github.com/OP-TEE/manifest.git -m $REPO_PROJ.xml </dev/null && repo sync -j2 --no-clone-bundle --no-tags --quiet
+  # Fetch a local copy of dtc+libfdt to avoid issues with a possibly outdated libfdt-dev
+  - if [ $REPO_PROJ == "qemu_v8" ]; then cd $HOME/$REPO_PROJ/qemu && git submodule update --init dtc; fi
   - cd $HOME/$REPO_PROJ && ln -s $HOME/reference/toolchains .
   - cd $HOME/$REPO_PROJ/build && make all -j2