diff --git a/adb/socket.h b/adb/socket.h
index 9eb1b1955..4acdf4a6d 100644
--- a/adb/socket.h
+++ b/adb/socket.h
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ void connect_to_smartsocket(asocket *s);
 namespace internal {
 
 #if ADB_HOST
-char* skip_host_serial(const char* service);
+char* skip_host_serial(char* service);
 #endif
 
 }  // namespace internal
diff --git a/adb/socket_test.cpp b/adb/socket_test.cpp
index 5cbef6dcf..20a3bbbfc 100644
--- a/adb/socket_test.cpp
+++ b/adb/socket_test.cpp
@@ -275,8 +275,8 @@ TEST_F(LocalSocketTest, close_socket_in_CLOSE_WAIT_state) {
 
 // Checks that skip_host_serial(serial) returns a pointer to the part of |serial| which matches
 // |expected|, otherwise logs the failure to gtest.
-void VerifySkipHostSerial(const std::string& serial, const char* expected) {
-    const char* result = internal::skip_host_serial(serial.c_str());
+void VerifySkipHostSerial(std::string serial, const char* expected) {
+    char* result = internal::skip_host_serial(&serial[0]);
     if (expected == nullptr) {
         EXPECT_EQ(nullptr, result);
     } else {
diff --git a/adb/sockets.cpp b/adb/sockets.cpp
index c083ee144..aecaba224 100644
--- a/adb/sockets.cpp
+++ b/adb/sockets.cpp
@@ -634,7 +634,7 @@ namespace internal {
 // Where <port> must be a base-10 number and <prefix> may be any of {usb,product,model,device}.
 //
 // The returned pointer will point to the ':' just before <command>, or nullptr if not found.
-char* skip_host_serial(const char* service) {
+char* skip_host_serial(char* service) {
     static const std::vector<std::string>& prefixes =
         *(new std::vector<std::string>{"usb:", "product:", "model:", "device:"});