diff --git a/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.sh b/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.sh
index 5e5c99029..31158c6f6 100644
--- a/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/shell-integration/ssh/bootstrap.sh
@@ -94,12 +94,18 @@ else
         return $?
     }
 
-    read_n_bytes_from_tty() {
-        # using dd with bs=1 is very slow, so use head. On non GNU coreutils head
-        # does not limit itself to reading -c bytes only from the pipe so we can potentially lose
-        # some trailing data, for instance if the user starts typing. Cant be helped.
-        command head -c "$1" < /dev/tty
-    }
+    # using dd with bs=1 is very slow, so use head. On non GNU coreutils head
+    # does not limit itself to reading -c bytes only from the pipe so we can potentially lose
+    # some trailing data, for instance if the user starts typing. Cant be helped.
+    if [ "$(printf "%s" "test" | command head -c 3 2> /dev/null)" = "tes" ]; then
+        read_n_bytes_from_tty() {
+            command head -c "$1" < /dev/tty
+        }
+    else
+        read_n_bytes_from_tty() {
+            command dd bs=1 count="$1" < /dev/tty 2> /dev/null
+        }
+    fi
 fi
 
 debug() { dcs_to_kitty "print" "debug: $1"; }