diff --git a/src/IPAddr.cc b/src/IPAddr.cc
index 3dc0025c2d..f0389a68a6 100644
--- a/src/IPAddr.cc
+++ b/src/IPAddr.cc
@@ -67,52 +67,27 @@ void IPAddr::ReverseMask(int top_bits_to_chop)
 	memcpy(in6.s6_addr, tmp, sizeof(in6.s6_addr));
 	}
 
-std::string IPAddr::CanonIPv4(const std::string& input)
-	{
-	vector<string> parts;
-	string output;
-	size_t start = 0;
-	size_t end;
-
-	do
-		{
-		end = input.find('.', start);
-		string p;
-		bool in_leading_zeroes = true;
-		for ( size_t i = start; i != end && i < input.size(); ++i )
-			{
-			if ( in_leading_zeroes && input[i] == '0' ) continue;
-			in_leading_zeroes = false;
-			p.push_back(input[i]);
-			}
-
-		if ( p.size() == 0 )
-			p.push_back('0');
-		parts.push_back(p);
-		start = end + 1;
-		} while ( end != string::npos );
-
-	for ( size_t i = 0; i < parts.size(); ++i )
-		{
-		if ( i > 0 )
-			output += '.';
-		output += parts[i];
-		}
-
-	return output;
-	}
-
 void IPAddr::Init(const std::string& s)
 	{
 	if ( s.find(':') == std::string::npos ) // IPv4.
 		{
 		memcpy(in6.s6_addr, v4_mapped_prefix, sizeof(v4_mapped_prefix));
 
-		if ( inet_pton(AF_INET, CanonIPv4(s).c_str(), &in6.s6_addr[12]) <=0 )
+		// parse the address directly instead of using inet_pton since
+		// some platforms have more sensitive implementations than others
+		// that can't e.g. handle leading zeroes.
+		int a[4];
+		int n = sscanf(s.c_str(), "%d.%d.%d.%d", a+0, a+1, a+2, a+3);
+		if ( n != 4 || a[0] < 0 || a[1] < 0 || a[2] < 0 || a[3] < 0 ||
+		     a[0] > 255 || a[1] > 255 || a[2] > 255 || a[3] > 255 )
 			{
 			reporter->Error("Bad IP address: %s", s.c_str());
 			memset(in6.s6_addr, 0, sizeof(in6.s6_addr));
+			return;
 			}
+		uint32_t addr = (a[0] << 24) | (a[1] << 16) | (a[2] << 8) | a[3];
+		addr = htonl(addr);
+		memcpy(&in6.s6_addr[12], &addr, sizeof(uint32_t));
 		}
 
 	else
diff --git a/src/IPAddr.h b/src/IPAddr.h
index 96e70689b4..c2e57ea7d1 100644
--- a/src/IPAddr.h
+++ b/src/IPAddr.h
@@ -261,14 +261,6 @@ public:
 
 	unsigned int MemoryAllocation() const { return padded_sizeof(*this); }
 
-	/**
-	 * Returns a canonicalized IPv4 dotted-decimal string such that
-	 * leading zeroes of each decimal part are removed.
-	 *
-	 * @param s String containing an IPv4 address in dotted-decimal notation.
-	 */
-	static std::string CanonIPv4(const std::string& s);
-
 private:
 	/**
 	 * Initializes an address instance from a string representation.