diff --git a/libexec/rtld-elf/rtld.c b/libexec/rtld-elf/rtld.c
--- a/libexec/rtld-elf/rtld.c
+++ b/libexec/rtld-elf/rtld.c
@@ -2081,7 +2081,7 @@
 	uint32_t strtab;	/* Offset of string table in file */
 	uint32_t dirlist;	/* Offset of directory list in string table */
 	uint32_t dirlistlen;	/* strlen(dirlist) */
-	bool is_le;
+	bool is_le;		/* Does the hints file use little endian */
 	bool skip;
 
 	/* First call, read the hints file */
@@ -2108,7 +2108,7 @@
 			hdr.dirlistlen = 0;
 			return (NULL);
 		}
-		is_le = /*le32toh(1) == 1 || */ hdr.magic == ELFHINTS_MAGIC;
+		is_le = /*htole32(1) == 1 || */ hdr.magic == htole32(ELFHINTS_MAGIC);
 		dbg("host byte-order: %s-endian", le32toh(1) == 1 ? "little" : "big");
 		dbg("hints file byte-order: %s-endian", is_le ? "little" : "big");
 		dbg("verify swap macros: le32toh(0x12345678) == %#010x, "