diff --git a/src/libutil/error.cc b/src/libutil/error.cc
index b50b1f3be..c36026f6c 100644
--- a/src/libutil/error.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/error.cc
@@ -436,7 +436,7 @@ void panic(std::string_view msg)
     writeErr("\n\n" ANSI_RED "terminating due to unexpected unrecoverable internal error: " ANSI_NORMAL);
     writeErr(msg);
     writeErr("\n");
-    abort();
+    std::terminate();
 }
 
 void panic(const char * file, int line, const char * func)
diff --git a/src/libutil/include/nix/util/error.hh b/src/libutil/include/nix/util/error.hh
index bd21e02d3..549116c4d 100644
--- a/src/libutil/include/nix/util/error.hh
+++ b/src/libutil/include/nix/util/error.hh
@@ -299,20 +299,20 @@ using NativeSysError =
 void throwExceptionSelfCheck();
 
 /**
- * Print a message and abort().
+ * Print a message and std::terminate().
  */
 [[noreturn]]
 void panic(std::string_view msg);
 
 /**
- * Print a basic error message with source position and abort().
+ * Print a basic error message with source position and std::terminate().
  * Use the unreachable() macro to call this.
  */
 [[noreturn]]
 void panic(const char * file, int line, const char * func);
 
 /**
- * Print a basic error message with source position and abort().
+ * Print a basic error message with source position and std::terminate().
  *
  * @note: This assumes that the logger is operational
  */