diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 5df0c889d2..ad78c58ed1 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -321,7 +321,7 @@ if(CURL_CODE_COVERAGE)
     else()
       list(APPEND CURL_COVERAGE_CFLAGS "-ftest-coverage")
     endif()
-    set(APPEND CURL_COVERAGE_LIBS "gcov")
+    set(CURL_COVERAGE_LIBS "gcov")
   elseif(CMAKE_C_COMPILER_ID MATCHES "Clang")
     set(CURL_COVERAGE_MACROS "NDEBUG")
     set(CURL_COVERAGE_CFLAGS "-O0" "-g" "-fprofile-instr-generate" "-fcoverage-mapping")