diff --git a/src/cmake/thirdparty/FindMFEM.cmake b/src/cmake/thirdparty/FindMFEM.cmake
index 0b1b2bfece..e3d53231af 100644
--- a/src/cmake/thirdparty/FindMFEM.cmake
+++ b/src/cmake/thirdparty/FindMFEM.cmake
@@ -112,11 +112,12 @@ else()
         string(SUBSTRING "${mfem_tpl_lnk_flags}" 0 ${mfem_tpl_lnl_flags_end_pos} mfem_tpl_lnk_flags)
         string(STRIP "${mfem_tpl_lnk_flags}" mfem_tpl_lnk_flags)
 
-        # filter out items containing "Xlinker"
+        # transform -Xlinker items to -Wl
         set(_mfem_tpl_list ${mfem_tpl_lnk_flags})
         separate_arguments(_mfem_tpl_list)
-        list(FILTER _mfem_tpl_list EXCLUDE REGEX Xlinker)
-        list(JOIN _mfem_tpl_list " " mfem_tpl_lnk_flags)
+        list(TRANSFORM _mfem_tpl_list
+             REPLACE "^-Xlinker=-rpath,(.*)$" "-Wl,-rpath,\\1")
+        set(mfem_tpl_lnk_flags ${_mfem_tpl_list})
     else()
         message(WARNING "No third party library flags found in ${MFEM_CFG_DIR}/config.mk")
     endif()