diff --git a/cmake/compiler_utils.cmake b/cmake/compiler_utils.cmake
index 7ebfba6..7aac16d 100644
--- a/cmake/compiler_utils.cmake
+++ b/cmake/compiler_utils.cmake
@@ -31,11 +31,6 @@ function(compiler_get_warnings_setup VARNAME)
                 "-Wno-documentation-html"
                 "-Wno-documentation"
         )
-        if (CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_VERSION VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL "18.0.0")
-            set(WARNINGS_SETUP_LIST "${WARNINGS_SETUP_LIST}"
-                "-Wno-unsafe-buffer-usage"
-            )
-        endif ()
         string(REPLACE ";" " " WARNINGS_SETUP "${WARNINGS_SETUP_LIST}")
     elseif ("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}" STREQUAL "MSVC")
         set(WARNINGS_SETUP "/W3 /wd4800")
@@ -109,6 +104,10 @@ function(compiler_get_warnings_as_errors_setup VARNAME)
             )
             string(REPLACE ";" " " WARNINGS_SETUP "${WARNINGS_SETUP} ${WARNINGS_SETUP_LIST}")
         endif ()
+        if (CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_VERSION VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL "18.0.0")
+            set(WARNINGS_SETUP # need to refactor  all pointer arithmetic to span/vector/array+index usage
+                "${WARNINGS_SETUP} -Wno-error=unsafe-buffer-usage")
+        endif ()
     elseif ("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}" STREQUAL "MSVC")
         if (ZSERIO_ENABLE_WERROR)
             set(WARNINGS_SETUP "/WX")