diff --git a/pkgs/tools/security/yara/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/security/yara/default.nix
index 506bf0f719d..3eb5495d2c9 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/security/yara/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/security/yara/default.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 { lib, stdenv
-, fetchpatch
 , fetchFromGitHub
 , autoreconfHook
 , pcre
@@ -11,17 +10,18 @@
 , enableDotNet ? true
 , enableMacho ? true
 , enableMagic ? true, file
+, enableStatic ? false
 }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-  version = "4.0.5";
+  version = "4.1.1";
   pname = "yara";
 
   src = fetchFromGitHub {
     owner = "VirusTotal";
     repo = "yara";
     rev = "v${version}";
-    sha256 = "1gkdll2ygdlqy1f27a5b84gw2bq75ss7acsx06yhiss90qwdaalq";
+    sha256 = "185j7firn7i5506rcp0va7sxdbminwrm06jsm4c70jf98qxmv522";
   };
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [ autoreconfHook pkg-config ];
@@ -34,19 +34,6 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   preConfigure = "./bootstrap.sh";
 
-  # If static builds are disabled, `make all-am` will fail to find libyara.a and
-  # cause a build failure. It appears that somewhere between yara 4.0.1 and
-  # 4.0.5, linking the yara binaries dynamically against libyara.so was broken.
-  #
-  # This was already fixed in yara master. Backport the patch to yara 4.0.5.
-  patches = [
-    (fetchpatch {
-      name = "fix-build-with-no-static.patch";
-      url = "https://github.com/VirusTotal/yara/commit/52e6866023b9aca26571c78fb8759bc3a51ba6dc.diff";
-      sha256 = "074cf99j0rqiyacp60j1hkvjqxia7qwd11xjqgcr8jmfwihb38nr";
-    })
-  ];
-
   configureFlags = [
     (lib.withFeature withCrypto "crypto")
     (lib.enableFeature enableCuckoo "cuckoo")
@@ -54,8 +41,11 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     (lib.enableFeature enableDotNet "dotnet")
     (lib.enableFeature enableMacho "macho")
     (lib.enableFeature enableMagic "magic")
+    (lib.enableFeature enableStatic "static")
   ];
 
+  doCheck = enableStatic;
+
   meta = with lib; {
     description = "The pattern matching swiss knife for malware researchers";
     homepage = "http://Virustotal.github.io/yara/";