diff --git a/test/system/272-system-connection.bats b/test/system/272-system-connection.bats
index 315cbed0bc..47ed6d1c2d 100644
--- a/test/system/272-system-connection.bats
+++ b/test/system/272-system-connection.bats
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ $c2[ ]\+tcp://localhost:54321[ ]\+true" \
                         system service -t 99 tcp://localhost:$_SERVICE_PORT &
     _SERVICE_PID=$!
     # Wait for the port and the podman-service to be ready.
-    wait_for_port localhost $_SERVICE_PORT
+    wait_for_port 127.0.0.1 $_SERVICE_PORT
     local timeout=10
     while [[ $timeout -gt 1 ]]; do
         _run_podman_remote '?' info --format '{{.Host.RemoteSocket.Path}}'
diff --git a/test/system/helpers.network.bash b/test/system/helpers.network.bash
index a88db0c615..dad340d9a1 100644
--- a/test/system/helpers.network.bash
+++ b/test/system/helpers.network.bash
@@ -93,7 +93,8 @@ function __ipv4_to_procfs() {
 # ipv4_to_procfs() - IPv4 address representation to big-endian procfs format
 # $1:	Text representation of IPv4 address
 function ipv4_to_procfs() {
-    IFS='.' __ipv4_to_procfs ${1}
+    IFS='.' read -r o1 o2 o3 o4 <<< $1
+    __ipv4_to_procfs $o1 $o2 $o3 $o4
 }
 
 
@@ -268,7 +269,7 @@ function port_is_free() {
     ! port_is_bound ${@}
 }
 
-# wait_for_port() - Return once port is available on the host
+# wait_for_port() - Return once port is bound (available for use by clients)
 # $1:	Host or address to check for possible binding
 # $2:	Port number
 # $3:	Optional timeout, 5 seconds if not given
@@ -279,7 +280,7 @@ function wait_for_port() {
 
     # Wait
     while [ $_timeout -gt 0 ]; do
-        port_is_free ${port} "${host}" && return
+        port_is_bound ${port} "${host}" && return
         sleep 1
         _timeout=$(( $_timeout - 1 ))
     done