diff --git a/tools/lib/bpf/btf.c b/tools/lib/bpf/btf.c
index d2ff6f5d6d5b..95c31803e722 100644
--- a/tools/lib/bpf/btf.c
+++ b/tools/lib/bpf/btf.c
@@ -2222,6 +2222,7 @@ struct btf_pipe {
 
 static int btf_rewrite_str(struct btf_pipe *p, __u32 *str_off)
 {
+	struct btf *base;
 	long mapped_off;
 	int off, err;
 
@@ -2234,6 +2235,19 @@ static int btf_rewrite_str(struct btf_pipe *p, __u32 *str_off)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * btf__add_str() first looks the string up in the base BTFs of dst,
+	 * which makes each of them modifiable and frees its raw data. If src
+	 * shares a base with dst and the string lives in that base, the
+	 * pointer taken below would be left dangling. So make the bases
+	 * modifiable before the pointer is taken.
+	 */
+	for (base = p->dst->base_btf; base; base = base->base_btf) {
+		err = btf_ensure_modifiable(base);
+		if (err)
+			return err;
+	}
+
 	off = btf__add_str(p->dst, btf__str_by_offset(p->src, *str_off));
 	if (off < 0)
 		return off;