diff --git a/lib/pathmatch.h b/lib/pathmatch.h
index b89ddcbe40b..ab9d2a3c43d 100644
--- a/lib/pathmatch.h
+++ b/lib/pathmatch.h
@@ -169,10 +169,10 @@ class CPPCHECKLIB PathMatch {
         return pattern;
     }
 
-private:
-    friend class TestPathMatch;
+protected:
     class PathIterator;
 
+private:
     /* List of patterns */
     std::vector<std::string> mPatterns;
     /* Base path to with patterns and paths are relative */
diff --git a/test/testpathmatch.cpp b/test/testpathmatch.cpp
index 2be6a943845..dc55bacf339 100644
--- a/test/testpathmatch.cpp
+++ b/test/testpathmatch.cpp
@@ -28,6 +28,11 @@ class TestPathMatch : public TestFixture {
     TestPathMatch() : TestFixture("TestPathMatch") {}
 
 private:
+    class PathMatchTest final : public PathMatch
+    {
+        friend class TestPathMatch;
+    };
+
     static constexpr auto unix = PathMatch::Syntax::unix;
     static constexpr auto windows = PathMatch::Syntax::windows;
     static constexpr auto ifreg = PathMatch::Filemode::regular;
@@ -277,7 +282,7 @@ class TestPathMatch : public TestFixture {
     void pathiterator() const {
         /* See https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/io/file-path-formats
          * for information on Windows path syntax. */
-        using PathIterator = PathMatch::PathIterator;
+        using PathIterator = PathMatchTest::PathIterator;
         ASSERT_EQUALS("/", PathIterator("/", nullptr, unix).read());
         ASSERT_EQUALS("/", PathIterator("//", nullptr, unix).read());
         ASSERT_EQUALS("/", PathIterator("/", "/", unix).read());