diff --git a/libsepol/include/sepol/policydb/util.h b/libsepol/include/sepol/policydb/util.h
index db8da213..4ea5a346 100644
--- a/libsepol/include/sepol/policydb/util.h
+++ b/libsepol/include/sepol/policydb/util.h
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ char *sepol_extended_perms_to_string(avtab_extended_perms_t *xperms);
  * The tokenize function may be used to
  * replace sscanf
  */
-extern int tokenize(char *line_buf, char delim, int num_args, ...);
+extern int tokenize(const char *line_buf, char delim, int num_args, ...);
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
diff --git a/libsepol/src/util.c b/libsepol/src/util.c
index 2f877920..571f6c93 100644
--- a/libsepol/src/util.c
+++ b/libsepol/src/util.c
@@ -221,9 +221,9 @@ err:
  */
 
 /* Read a token from a buffer */
-static inline int tokenize_str(char delim, char **str, char **ptr, size_t *len)
+static inline int tokenize_str(char delim, char **str, const char **ptr, size_t *len)
 {
-	char *tmp_buf = *ptr;
+	const char *tmp_buf = *ptr;
 	*str = NULL;
 
 	while (**ptr != '\0') {
@@ -273,9 +273,10 @@ static inline int tokenize_str(char delim, char **str, char **ptr, size_t *len)
  * contain the remaining content of line_buf. If the delimiter is any whitespace
  * character, then all whitespace will be squashed.
  */
-int tokenize(char *line_buf, char delim, int num_args, ...)
+int tokenize(const char *line_buf, char delim, int num_args, ...)
 {
-	char **arg, *buf_p;
+	char **arg;
+	const char *buf_p;
 	int rc, items;
 	size_t arg_len = 0;
 	va_list ap;