diff --git a/fuzzbuzz.yaml b/fuzzbuzz.yaml
index f64af60e01..18c70e3555 100644
--- a/fuzzbuzz.yaml
+++ b/fuzzbuzz.yaml
@@ -5,7 +5,11 @@ setup:
 - sudo apt-get update -y
 - sudo apt-get build-dep -y systemd
 - sudo apt-get install -y python3-pip
-- pip3 install meson ninja
+# FIXME: temporarily pin the meson version as 0.53 doesn't work with older
+# python 3.5
+# # See: https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/issues/6427
+#
+- pip3 install meson==0.52.1 ninja
 - export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin/:$PATH"
 - CC=$FUZZ_CC CXX=$FUZZ_CXX meson -Dfuzzbuzz=true -Dfuzzbuzz-engine-dir=$(dirname "$FUZZ_ENGINE") -Dfuzzbuzz-engine=$(cut -d. -f1 <(basename "$FUZZ_ENGINE")) -Db_lundef=false ./build
 - ninja -v -C ./build fuzzers
diff --git a/tools/oss-fuzz.sh b/tools/oss-fuzz.sh
index 5e48a7e0c6..6884048d83 100755
--- a/tools/oss-fuzz.sh
+++ b/tools/oss-fuzz.sh
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ if [ -z "$FUZZING_ENGINE" ]; then
     fuzzflag="llvm-fuzz=true"
 fi
 
+# FIXME: temporarily pin the meson version as 0.53 doesn't work with older python 3.5
+# See: https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/issues/6427
+pip3 install meson==0.52.1
+
 meson $build -D$fuzzflag -Db_lundef=false
 ninja -v -C $build fuzzers
 
diff --git a/travis-ci/managers/fuzzbuzz.sh b/travis-ci/managers/fuzzbuzz.sh
index 3fe7e1a803..1541b46652 100755
--- a/travis-ci/managers/fuzzbuzz.sh
+++ b/travis-ci/managers/fuzzbuzz.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,9 @@ sudo bash -c "echo 'deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial main restri
 sudo apt-get update -y
 sudo apt-get build-dep systemd -y
 sudo apt-get install -y ninja-build python3-pip python3-setuptools quota
-pip3 install meson
+# FIXME: temporarily pin the meson version as 0.53 doesn't work with older python 3.5
+# See: https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/issues/6427
+pip3 install meson==0.52.1
 
 cd $REPO_ROOT
 export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin/:$PATH"
diff --git a/travis-ci/managers/fuzzit.sh b/travis-ci/managers/fuzzit.sh
index 45fd784a39..376761e20c 100755
--- a/travis-ci/managers/fuzzit.sh
+++ b/travis-ci/managers/fuzzit.sh
@@ -14,7 +14,9 @@ sudo bash -c "echo 'deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial main restri
 sudo apt-get update -y
 sudo apt-get build-dep systemd -y
 sudo apt-get install -y ninja-build python3-pip python3-setuptools
-pip3 install meson
+# FIXME: temporarily pin the meson version as 0.53 doesn't work with older python 3.5
+# See: https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/issues/6427
+pip3 install meson==0.52.1
 
 cd $REPO_ROOT
 export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin/:$PATH"