diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile
index 2d7f5df33f04823672cc77b5255021db9c53d29a..ee4ad34adb4a6f657f2dd701b548baf27645edde 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile
@@ -129,10 +129,13 @@ $(OUTPUT)/test_stub.o: test_stub.c $(BPFOBJ)
 	$(call msg,CC,,$@)
 	$(CC) -c $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $<
 
-VMLINUX_BTF_PATHS := $(abspath ../../../../vmlinux)			\
-			       /sys/kernel/btf/vmlinux			\
-			       /boot/vmlinux-$(shell uname -r)
-VMLINUX_BTF:= $(firstword $(wildcard $(VMLINUX_BTF_PATHS)))
+VMLINUX_BTF_PATHS := $(if $(O),$(O)/vmlinux)				\
+		     $(if $(KBUILD_OUTPUT),$(KBUILD_OUTPUT)/vmlinux)	\
+		     ../../../../vmlinux				\
+		     /sys/kernel/btf/vmlinux				\
+		     /boot/vmlinux-$(shell uname -r)
+VMLINUX_BTF:= $(abspath $(firstword $(wildcard $(VMLINUX_BTF_PATHS))))
+
 $(OUTPUT)/runqslower: $(BPFOBJ)
 	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(submake_extras) -C $(TOOLSDIR)/bpf/runqslower	\
 		    OUTPUT=$(SCRATCH_DIR)/ VMLINUX_BTF=$(VMLINUX_BTF)   \