diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 7607e20385a8..eb02f3823ce6 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1545,6 +1545,7 @@ 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