diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 770e509d4da4..0904b82905d9 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1529,6 +1529,7 @@ endif
 # *.ko are usually independent of vmlinux, but CONFIG_DEBUG_INFOBTF_MODULES
 # is an exception.
 ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_BTF_MODULES
+KBUILD_BUILTIN := 1
 modules: vmlinux
 endif