diff --git a/scripts/link-vmlinux.sh b/scripts/link-vmlinux.sh
index 0e0f6466b18d..475faa15854e 100755
--- a/scripts/link-vmlinux.sh
+++ b/scripts/link-vmlinux.sh
@@ -235,6 +235,10 @@ gen_btf()
 
 	vmlinux_link ${1}
 
+	if [ "${pahole_ver}" -ge "118" ] && [ "${pahole_ver}" -le "121" ]; then
+		# pahole 1.18 through 1.21 can't handle zero-sized per-CPU vars
+		extra_paholeopt="${extra_paholeopt} --skip_encoding_btf_vars"
+	fi
 	if [ "${pahole_ver}" -ge "121" ]; then
 		extra_paholeopt="${extra_paholeopt} --btf_gen_floats"
 	fi