diff --git a/tools/perf/util/annotate.c b/tools/perf/util/annotate.c
index 1367d7e35242..df4486c3a2fa 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/annotate.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/annotate.c
@@ -1321,6 +1321,7 @@ static int dso__disassemble_filename(struct dso *dso, char *filename, size_t fil
 	char linkname[PATH_MAX];
 	char *build_id_filename;
 	char *build_id_path = NULL;
+	char *pos;
 
 	if (dso->symtab_type == DSO_BINARY_TYPE__KALLSYMS &&
 	    !dso__is_kcore(dso))
@@ -1340,7 +1341,14 @@ static int dso__disassemble_filename(struct dso *dso, char *filename, size_t fil
 	if (!build_id_path)
 		return -1;
 
-	dirname(build_id_path);
+	/*
+	 * old style build-id cache has name of XX/XXXXXXX.. while
+	 * new style has XX/XXXXXXX../{elf,kallsyms,vdso}.
+	 * extract the build-id part of dirname in the new style only.
+	 */
+	pos = strrchr(build_id_path, '/');
+	if (pos && strlen(pos) < SBUILD_ID_SIZE - 2)
+		dirname(build_id_path);
 
 	if (dso__is_kcore(dso) ||
 	    readlink(build_id_path, linkname, sizeof(linkname)) < 0 ||