diff --git a/server/core/CMakeLists.txt b/server/core/CMakeLists.txt
index e5b09894d..4dcaced3b 100644
--- a/server/core/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/server/core/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ add_library(maxscale-common SHARED
   config_runtime.cc
   dcb.cc
   filter.cc
-  externcmd.c paths.c hashtable.c hint.c housekeeper.c load_utils.c log_manager.cc maxscale_pcre2.c misc.c mlist.c modutil.c monitor.c queuemanager.c query_classifier.cc poll.c random_jkiss.c resultset.c router.cc secrets.c server.c service.c session.c spinlock.c thread.c users.c utils.c skygw_utils.cc statistics.c listener.c ssl.c mysql_utils.c mysql_binlog.c modulecmd.c)
+  externcmd.cc
+  paths.c hashtable.c hint.c housekeeper.c load_utils.c log_manager.cc maxscale_pcre2.c misc.c mlist.c modutil.c monitor.c queuemanager.c query_classifier.cc poll.c random_jkiss.c resultset.c router.cc secrets.c server.c service.c session.c spinlock.c thread.c users.c utils.c skygw_utils.cc statistics.c listener.c ssl.c mysql_utils.c mysql_binlog.c modulecmd.c)
 
 if(WITH_JEMALLOC)
   target_link_libraries(maxscale-common ${JEMALLOC_LIBRARIES})
diff --git a/server/core/externcmd.c b/server/core/externcmd.cc
similarity index 98%
rename from server/core/externcmd.c
rename to server/core/externcmd.cc
index 4a7bd1423..abfea8b48 100644
--- a/server/core/externcmd.c
+++ b/server/core/externcmd.cc
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ bool externcmd_substitute_arg(EXTERNCMD* cmd, const char* match, const char* rep
         for (int i = 0; cmd->argv[i] && rval; i++)
         {
             size_t size = strlen(cmd->argv[i]);
-            char* dest = MXS_MALLOC(size);
+            char* dest = (char*)MXS_MALLOC(size);
             if (dest)
             {
                 mxs_pcre2_result_t rc = mxs_pcre2_substitute(re, cmd->argv[i], replace, &dest, &size);
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ char* get_command(const char* str)
 
     if (len > 0)
     {
-        rval = MXS_MALLOC(len + 1);
+        rval = (char*)MXS_MALLOC(len + 1);
 
         if (rval)
         {