diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile
index 70229de510f5..1cca5f2567c2 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ $(BPFOBJ): force
 CLANG ?= clang
 LLC   ?= llc
 LLVM_OBJCOPY ?= llvm-objcopy
+LLVM_READELF ?= llvm-readelf
 BTF_PAHOLE ?= pahole
 
 PROBE := $(shell $(LLC) -march=bpf -mcpu=probe -filetype=null /dev/null 2>&1)
@@ -131,7 +132,7 @@ BTF_PAHOLE_PROBE := $(shell $(BTF_PAHOLE) --help 2>&1 | grep BTF)
 BTF_OBJCOPY_PROBE := $(shell $(LLVM_OBJCOPY) --help 2>&1 | grep -i 'usage.*llvm')
 BTF_LLVM_PROBE := $(shell echo "int main() { return 0; }" | \
 			  $(CLANG) -target bpf -O2 -g -c -x c - -o ./llvm_btf_verify.o; \
-			  readelf -S ./llvm_btf_verify.o | grep BTF; \
+			  $(LLVM_READELF) -S ./llvm_btf_verify.o | grep BTF; \
 			  /bin/rm -f ./llvm_btf_verify.o)
 
 ifneq ($(BTF_LLVM_PROBE),)