diff --git a/tools/lib/bpf/libbpf.c b/tools/lib/bpf/libbpf.c
index 184ce1684dcd4c46b0cf4525f0b80047c5446692..2e8ac13de6a0475a02b2e5d237fba73075541a8c 100644
--- a/tools/lib/bpf/libbpf.c
+++ b/tools/lib/bpf/libbpf.c
@@ -597,7 +597,7 @@ struct elf_state {
 	size_t shstrndx; /* section index for section name strings */
 	size_t strtabidx;
 	struct elf_sec_desc *secs;
-	int sec_cnt;
+	size_t sec_cnt;
 	int btf_maps_shndx;
 	__u32 btf_maps_sec_btf_id;
 	int text_shndx;
@@ -3312,10 +3312,15 @@ static int bpf_object__elf_collect(struct bpf_object *obj)
 	Elf64_Shdr *sh;
 
 	/* ELF section indices are 0-based, but sec #0 is special "invalid"
-	 * section. e_shnum does include sec #0, so e_shnum is the necessary
-	 * size of an array to keep all the sections.
+	 * section. Since section count retrieved by elf_getshdrnum() does
+	 * include sec #0, it is already the necessary size of an array to keep
+	 * all the sections.
 	 */
-	obj->efile.sec_cnt = obj->efile.ehdr->e_shnum;
+	if (elf_getshdrnum(obj->efile.elf, &obj->efile.sec_cnt)) {
+		pr_warn("elf: failed to get the number of sections for %s: %s\n",
+			obj->path, elf_errmsg(-1));
+		return -LIBBPF_ERRNO__FORMAT;
+	}
 	obj->efile.secs = calloc(obj->efile.sec_cnt, sizeof(*obj->efile.secs));
 	if (!obj->efile.secs)
 		return -ENOMEM;