diff --git a/src/openvpn/otime.c b/src/openvpn/otime.c
index 759a7fb5..28683459 100644
--- a/src/openvpn/otime.c
+++ b/src/openvpn/otime.c
@@ -127,8 +127,11 @@ time_string(time_t t, int usec, bool show_usec, struct gc_arena *gc)
     }
 
     t = tv.tv_sec;
-    buf_printf(&out, "%s", ctime(&t));
-    buf_rmtail(&out, '\n');
+    struct tm * tm = localtime(&t);
+
+    buf_printf(&out, "%04d-%02d-%02d %02d:%02d:%02d",
+                tm->tm_year+1900, tm->tm_mon+1, tm->tm_mday,
+                tm->tm_hour, tm->tm_min, tm->tm_sec);
 
     if (show_usec && tv.tv_usec)
     {