diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/trace_helpers.c b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/trace_helpers.c
index 3d6217e3aff7ac5c6ce8856ca68cc1d7d778ddb7..9c4be2cdb21a021e30497e1b2da9bb9ba1adb64e 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/trace_helpers.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/trace_helpers.c
@@ -25,15 +25,12 @@ static int ksym_cmp(const void *p1, const void *p2)
 
 int load_kallsyms(void)
 {
-	FILE *f = fopen("/proc/kallsyms", "r");
+	FILE *f;
 	char func[256], buf[256];
 	char symbol;
 	void *addr;
 	int i = 0;
 
-	if (!f)
-		return -ENOENT;
-
 	/*
 	 * This is called/used from multiplace places,
 	 * load symbols just once.
@@ -41,6 +38,10 @@ int load_kallsyms(void)
 	if (sym_cnt)
 		return 0;
 
+	f = fopen("/proc/kallsyms", "r");
+	if (!f)
+		return -ENOENT;
+
 	while (fgets(buf, sizeof(buf), f)) {
 		if (sscanf(buf, "%p %c %s", &addr, &symbol, func) != 3)
 			break;