Adding hosts not working due to js/prototype.js version mismatch: "Incorrect arguments passed to function."

When attempting to create a new host configuration in Zabbix, an error is reported:
"Incorrect arguments passed to function."

On Ubuntu Xenial, zabbix-frontend-php /usr/share/zabbix/js/prototype.js is a symlink to the generic Ubuntu javascripts:

/usr/share/zabbix/js/prototype.js -> ../../javascript/prototype/prototype.js
ii libjs-prototyp 1.7.1-3 all JavaScript Framework for dynamic

Upstream reports, that Zabbix 2.4.7 does not work with 1.7.1, 1.6.1 has to be used instead. See https://support.zabbix.com/browse/ZBX-9784

By removing the symlink and using the file ./zabbix-2.4.8/frontends/php/js/prototype.js from http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/zabbix/zabbix-2.4.8.tar.gz?download
everything works as expected again.