diff --git a/src/core/nm-config-data.h b/src/core/nm-config-data.h
index fa58d869c7..92a7cb5c6f 100644
--- a/src/core/nm-config-data.h
+++ b/src/core/nm-config-data.h
@@ -195,16 +195,16 @@ const char *nm_config_data_get_iwd_config_path(const NMConfigData *self);
 extern const char *__start_connection_defaults[];
 extern const char *__stop_connection_defaults[];
 
-#define NM_CON_DEFAULT_NOP(name)                              \
-    static const char *NM_UNIQ_T(connection_default, NM_UNIQ) \
-        _nm_used       _nm_section("connection_defaults") = "" name
+#define NM_CON_DEFAULT_NOP(name)                                   \
+    static const char *     NM_UNIQ_T(connection_default, NM_UNIQ) \
+        _nm_used _nm_retain _nm_section("connection_defaults") = "" name
 
-#define NM_CON_DEFAULT(name)                                                                \
-    ({                                                                                      \
-        static const char *__con_default_prop _nm_used _nm_section("connection_defaults") = \
-            "" name;                                                                        \
-                                                                                            \
-        name;                                                                               \
+#define NM_CON_DEFAULT(name)                                                   \
+    ({                                                                         \
+        static const char *__con_default_prop _nm_used _nm_retain _nm_section( \
+            "connection_defaults") = "" name;                                  \
+                                                                               \
+        name;                                                                  \
     })
 
 const char *nm_config_data_get_connection_default(const NMConfigData *self,
diff --git a/src/libnm-std-aux/nm-std-aux.h b/src/libnm-std-aux/nm-std-aux.h
index ce4d06d25b..b79b1c6533 100644
--- a/src/libnm-std-aux/nm-std-aux.h
+++ b/src/libnm-std-aux/nm-std-aux.h
@@ -26,6 +26,21 @@
 #define _nm_alignof(type)      __alignof(type)
 #define _nm_alignas(type)      _nm_align(_nm_alignof(type))
 #define _nm_deprecated(msg)    __attribute__((__deprecated__(msg)))
+#define _nm_retain
+
+#if defined(__clang__) && defined(__has_attribute)
+#if __has_attribute(__retain__)
+/* __attribute__((__retain__)) is supported in clang 13+, but is warned about
+ * as an unknown attribute in older versions. We assume older versions are used
+ * together with linkers that do not require the attribute.
+ *
+ * Ideally __has_attribute(__retain__) would be checked in other compilers as
+ * well, but it is broken in GCC (bug 99587). Limit it to clang for now, as it
+ * is only known to be needed for linking lld. */
+#undef _nm_retain
+#define _nm_retain __attribute__((__retain__))
+#endif
+#endif
 
 #if defined(__clang__) && __clang_major__ == 13
 /* Clang 13 can emit -Wunused-but-set-variable warning for cleanup variables