diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/unwind_orc.c b/arch/x86/kernel/unwind_orc.c
index 89be1be1790c413f2030eaee83c379c58bafde5c..4751d850a3d3b919b7fbe5d9f528af879d4c9ea7 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/unwind_orc.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/unwind_orc.c
@@ -176,6 +176,7 @@ static struct orc_entry *orc_find(unsigned long ip)
 	return orc_ftrace_find(ip);
 }
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_MODULES
 static void orc_sort_swap(void *_a, void *_b, int size)
 {
 	struct orc_entry *orc_a, *orc_b;
@@ -218,7 +219,6 @@ static int orc_sort_cmp(const void *_a, const void *_b)
 	return orc_a->sp_reg == ORC_REG_UNDEFINED && !orc_a->end ? -1 : 1;
 }
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_MODULES
 void unwind_module_init(struct module *mod, void *_orc_ip, size_t orc_ip_size,
 			void *_orc, size_t orc_size)
 {
@@ -262,9 +262,11 @@ void __init unwind_init(void)
 		return;
 	}
 
-	/* Sort the .orc_unwind and .orc_unwind_ip tables: */
-	sort(__start_orc_unwind_ip, num_entries, sizeof(int), orc_sort_cmp,
-	     orc_sort_swap);
+	/*
+	 * Note, the orc_unwind and orc_unwind_ip tables were already
+	 * sorted at build time via the 'sorttable' tool.
+	 * It's ready for binary search straight away, no need to sort it.
+	 */
 
 	/* Initialize the fast lookup table: */
 	lookup_num_blocks = orc_lookup_end - orc_lookup;
diff --git a/scripts/link-vmlinux.sh b/scripts/link-vmlinux.sh
index e5ee28390108e106feba1a84027eccc5cd62059e..51d00789ff90d20e2650cfd44f7d964b68698581 100755
--- a/scripts/link-vmlinux.sh
+++ b/scripts/link-vmlinux.sh
@@ -283,7 +283,10 @@ vmlinux_link "${kallsymso}" vmlinux
 
 if [ -n "${CONFIG_BUILDTIME_TABLE_SORT}" ]; then
 	info SORTTAB vmlinux
-	sorttable vmlinux
+	if ! sorttable vmlinux; then
+		echo >&2 Failed to sort kernel tables
+		exit 1
+	fi
 fi
 
 info SYSMAP System.map