diff --git a/test/functional/feature_notifications.py b/test/functional/feature_notifications.py
--- a/test/functional/feature_notifications.py
+++ b/test/functional/feature_notifications.py
@@ -44,7 +44,8 @@
 
         # file content should equal the generated blocks hashes
         with open(self.block_filename, 'r', encoding="utf-8") as f:
-            assert_equal(sorted(blocks), sorted(f.read().splitlines()))
+            assert_equal(sorted(blocks), sorted(l.strip()
+                                                for l in f.read().splitlines()))
 
         self.log.info("test -walletnotify")
         # wait at most 10 seconds for expected file size before reading the content
@@ -55,7 +56,8 @@
         txids_rpc = list(
             map(lambda t: t['txid'], self.nodes[1].listtransactions("*", block_count)))
         with open(self.tx_filename, 'r', encoding="ascii") as f:
-            assert_equal(sorted(txids_rpc), sorted(f.read().splitlines()))
+            assert_equal(sorted(txids_rpc), sorted(l.strip()
+                                                   for l in f.read().splitlines()))
         os.remove(self.tx_filename)
 
         self.log.info("test -walletnotify after rescan")
@@ -70,7 +72,8 @@
         txids_rpc = list(
             map(lambda t: t['txid'], self.nodes[1].listtransactions("*", block_count)))
         with open(self.tx_filename, 'r', encoding="ascii") as f:
-            assert_equal(sorted(txids_rpc), sorted(f.read().splitlines()))
+            assert_equal(sorted(txids_rpc), sorted(l.strip()
+                                                   for l in f.read().splitlines()))
 
         # Create an invalid chain and ensure the node warns.
         self.log.info("test -alertnotify for forked chain")
diff --git a/test/functional/mempool_persist.py b/test/functional/mempool_persist.py
--- a/test/functional/mempool_persist.py
+++ b/test/functional/mempool_persist.py
@@ -126,14 +126,13 @@
 
         self.log.debug(
             "Prevent bitcoind from writing mempool.dat to disk. Verify that `savemempool` fails")
-        # to test the exception we are setting bad permissions on a tmp file called mempool.dat.new
+        # to test the exception we are creating a tmp folder called mempool.dat.new
         # which is an implementation detail that could change and break this test
         mempooldotnew1 = mempooldat1 + '.new'
-        with os.fdopen(os.open(mempooldotnew1, os.O_CREAT, 0o000), 'w'):
-            pass
+        os.mkdir(mempooldotnew1)
         assert_raises_rpc_error(-1, "Unable to dump mempool to disk",
                                 self.nodes[1].savemempool)
-        os.remove(mempooldotnew1)
+        os.rmdir(mempooldotnew1)
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':