diff --git a/tools/perf/util/symbol-elf.c b/tools/perf/util/symbol-elf.c
index c301c298ded9..39562bdec8b9 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/symbol-elf.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/symbol-elf.c
@@ -995,6 +995,9 @@ int sysfs__read_build_id(const char *filename, struct build_id *bid)
 			} else {
 				n = namesz + descsz;
 			}
+			/* no valid note has both namesz and descsz zero */
+			if (n == 0)
+				break;
 			if (read(fd, bf, n) != (ssize_t)n)
 				break;
 		}