diff -uNr htop-3.2.0/linux/LinuxProcessList.c htop-3.2.0.mod/linux/LinuxProcessList.c
--- htop-3.2.0/linux/LinuxProcessList.c	2022-05-01 14:31:20.000000000 +0800
+++ htop-3.2.0.mod/linux/LinuxProcessList.c	2022-06-18 13:46:07.415229800 +0800
@@ -274,7 +274,14 @@
    this->haveSmapsRollup = (access(PROCDIR "/self/smaps_rollup", R_OK) == 0);
 
    // Read btime (the kernel boot time, as number of seconds since the epoch)
-   FILE* statfile = fopen(PROCSTATFILE, "r");
+   FILE* statfile;
+
+   if (access("/proc/stat", R_OK) == 0){
+      statfile = fopen("/proc/stat", "r");
+   } else {
+      statfile = fopen(PROCSTATFILE, "r");
+   }
+
    if (statfile == NULL)
       CRT_fatalError("Cannot open " PROCSTATFILE);
    while (true) {
@@ -1925,7 +1932,15 @@
 
    LinuxProcessList_updateCPUcount(super);
 
-   FILE* file = fopen(PROCSTATFILE, "r");
+   FILE* file;
+
+   /* Read the actual procstat file only if the /proc/stat is readable by any means */
+   if (access("/proc/stat", R_OK) == 0){
+      file = fopen("/proc/stat", "r");
+   } else {
+      file = fopen(PROCSTATFILE, "r");
+   }
+
    if (!file)
       CRT_fatalError("Cannot open " PROCSTATFILE);