diff --git a/tools/bpf/bpftool/common.c b/tools/bpf/bpftool/common.c
index 24582e8a96fb..1bad6602a282 100644
--- a/tools/bpf/bpftool/common.c
+++ b/tools/bpf/bpftool/common.c
@@ -76,7 +76,8 @@ void set_max_rlimit(void)
 	setrlimit(RLIMIT_MEMLOCK, &rinf);
 }
 
-static int mnt_bpffs(const char *target, char *buff, size_t bufflen)
+static int
+mnt_fs(const char *target, const char *type, char *buff, size_t bufflen)
 {
 	bool bind_done = false;
 
@@ -98,15 +99,29 @@ static int mnt_bpffs(const char *target, char *buff, size_t bufflen)
 		bind_done = true;
 	}
 
-	if (mount("bpf", target, "bpf", 0, "mode=0700")) {
-		snprintf(buff, bufflen, "mount -t bpf bpf %s failed: %s",
-			 target, strerror(errno));
+	if (mount(type, target, type, 0, "mode=0700")) {
+		snprintf(buff, bufflen, "mount -t %s %s %s failed: %s",
+			 type, type, target, strerror(errno));
 		return -1;
 	}
 
 	return 0;
 }
 
+int mount_tracefs(const char *target)
+{
+	char err_str[ERR_MAX_LEN];
+	int err;
+
+	err = mnt_fs(target, "tracefs", err_str, ERR_MAX_LEN);
+	if (err) {
+		err_str[ERR_MAX_LEN - 1] = '\0';
+		p_err("can't mount tracefs: %s", err_str);
+	}
+
+	return err;
+}
+
 int open_obj_pinned(char *path, bool quiet)
 {
 	int fd;
@@ -162,7 +177,7 @@ int mount_bpffs_for_pin(const char *name)
 		/* nothing to do if already mounted */
 		goto out_free;
 
-	err = mnt_bpffs(dir, err_str, ERR_MAX_LEN);
+	err = mnt_fs(dir, "bpf", err_str, ERR_MAX_LEN);
 	if (err) {
 		err_str[ERR_MAX_LEN - 1] = '\0';
 		p_err("can't mount BPF file system to pin the object (%s): %s",
diff --git a/tools/bpf/bpftool/main.h b/tools/bpf/bpftool/main.h
index 9487345b04a7..9e4499c926fa 100644
--- a/tools/bpf/bpftool/main.h
+++ b/tools/bpf/bpftool/main.h
@@ -98,6 +98,8 @@ void usage(void) __noreturn;
 
 void set_max_rlimit(void);
 
+int mount_tracefs(const char *target);
+
 struct pinned_obj_table {
 	DECLARE_HASHTABLE(table, 16);
 };
diff --git a/tools/bpf/bpftool/tracelog.c b/tools/bpf/bpftool/tracelog.c
index 1fa8e513f590..2dc36dfa0896 100644
--- a/tools/bpf/bpftool/tracelog.c
+++ b/tools/bpf/bpftool/tracelog.c
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ find_tracefs_mnt_single(unsigned long magic, char *mnt, const char *mntpt)
 	return true;
 }
 
-static bool find_tracefs_pipe(char *mnt)
+static bool get_tracefs_pipe(char *mnt)
 {
 	static const char * const known_mnts[] = {
 		"/sys/kernel/debug/tracing",
@@ -88,7 +88,17 @@ static bool find_tracefs_pipe(char *mnt)
 	fclose(fp);
 
 	/* The string from fscanf() might be truncated, check mnt is valid */
-	if (!found || validate_tracefs_mnt(mnt, TRACEFS_MAGIC))
+	if (found && validate_tracefs_mnt(mnt, TRACEFS_MAGIC))
+		goto exit_found;
+
+	p_info("could not find tracefs, attempting to mount it now");
+	/* Most of the time, tracefs is automatically mounted by debugfs at
+	 * /sys/kernel/debug/tracing when we try to access it. If we could not
+	 * find it, it is likely that debugfs is not mounted. Let's give one
+	 * attempt at mounting just tracefs at /sys/kernel/tracing.
+	 */
+	strcpy(mnt, known_mnts[1]);
+	if (mount_tracefs(mnt))
 		return false;
 
 exit_found:
@@ -115,17 +125,13 @@ int do_tracelog(int argc, char **argv)
 		.sa_handler = exit_tracelog
 	};
 	char trace_pipe[PATH_MAX];
-	bool found_trace_pipe;
 	size_t buff_len = 0;
 
 	if (json_output)
 		jsonw_start_array(json_wtr);
 
-	found_trace_pipe = find_tracefs_pipe(trace_pipe);
-	if (!found_trace_pipe) {
-		p_err("could not find trace pipe, tracefs not mounted?");
+	if (!get_tracefs_pipe(trace_pipe))
 		return -1;
-	}
 
 	trace_pipe_fd = fopen(trace_pipe, "r");
 	if (!trace_pipe_fd) {