diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-top.c b/tools/perf/builtin-top.c
index bde216b2071c77b8eb24bd161f1f0b1188c48900..4fb6f726271cd2bed5583feba018f2dc52e69658 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-top.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-top.c
@@ -623,10 +623,12 @@ static void *display_thread(void *arg)
 	return NULL;
 }
 
-static int symbol_filter(struct map *map __maybe_unused, struct symbol *sym)
+static int symbol_filter(struct map *map, struct symbol *sym)
 {
 	const char *name = sym->name;
 
+	if (!map->dso->kernel)
+		return 0;
 	/*
 	 * ppc64 uses function descriptors and appends a '.' to the
 	 * start of every instruction address. Remove it.
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/symbol.c b/tools/perf/util/symbol.c
index f134ec1389347422731839f17d49a23ee77e3e52..35a8bd56cd15c00a32411055632177e1781658a1 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/symbol.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/symbol.c
@@ -523,6 +523,10 @@ struct process_kallsyms_args {
 	struct dso *dso;
 };
 
+/*
+ * These are symbols in the kernel image, so make sure that
+ * sym is from a kernel DSO.
+ */
 bool symbol__is_idle(struct symbol *sym)
 {
 	const char * const idle_symbols[] = {