diff --git a/recipe/0001-patch-str-copy.patch b/recipe/0001-patch-str-copy.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..77b45f26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/recipe/0001-patch-str-copy.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+From 0b2e9e3005255e92df4cc1be359edc04fd5c2ff6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Cornelius Roemer <cornelius.roemer@gmail.com>
+Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2024 23:47:33 +0200
+Subject: [PATCH] fix: use copy(v) which works also on str, instead of v.copy()
+ which doesn't
+
+resolves #5416
+resolves #3404 (closed because stale, not because fixed)
+
+Bug was possibly introduced in #3344
+---
+ conda_build/variants.py | 2 +-
+ 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
+
+diff --git a/conda_build/variants.py b/conda_build/variants.py
+index b185a7eb34..fe659067e8 100644
+--- a/conda_build/variants.py
++++ b/conda_build/variants.py
+@@ -328,7 +328,7 @@ def _combine_spec_dictionaries(
+                                     ) != len(ensure_list(v)):
+                                         break
+                                 else:
+-                                    values[k] = v.copy()
++                                    values[k] = copy(v)
+                                 missing_subvalues = [
+                                     subvalue
+                                     for subvalue in ensure_list(v)
diff --git a/recipe/meta.yaml b/recipe/meta.yaml
index 7cfa7189..d230d30a 100644
--- a/recipe/meta.yaml
+++ b/recipe/meta.yaml
@@ -8,9 +8,15 @@ package:
 source:
   url: https://github.com/conda/{{ name }}/releases/download/{{ version }}/{{ name }}-{{ version }}.tar.gz
   sha256: 1fafd20caa758862bb1b51cebf1bd87cf7c01cf41b7eaa5ed9d6de8e08e829c6
+  {% if version == "24.11.1" %}
+  patches:
+    # from https://github.com/conda/conda-build/pull/5417
+    # can be removed once this PR is shipped
+    - 0001-patch-str-copy.patch
+  {% endif %}
 
 build:
-  number: 1
+  number: 2
   script: {{ PYTHON }} -m pip install . --no-deps --no-build-isolation -vv
   entry_points:
     - conda-build = conda_build.cli.main_build:execute