diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile
index e7a8cf83ba48..48425f9251b5 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/Makefile
@@ -142,7 +142,9 @@ VMLINUX_BTF_PATHS ?= $(if $(O),$(O)/vmlinux)				\
 		     /boot/vmlinux-$(shell uname -r)
 VMLINUX_BTF ?= $(abspath $(firstword $(wildcard $(VMLINUX_BTF_PATHS))))
 
-$(OUTPUT)/runqslower: $(BPFOBJ)
+DEFAULT_BPFTOOL := $(SCRATCH_DIR)/sbin/bpftool
+
+$(OUTPUT)/runqslower: $(BPFOBJ) | $(DEFAULT_BPFTOOL)
 	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(submake_extras) -C $(TOOLSDIR)/bpf/runqslower	\
 		    OUTPUT=$(SCRATCH_DIR)/ VMLINUX_BTF=$(VMLINUX_BTF)   \
 		    BPFOBJ=$(BPFOBJ) BPF_INCLUDE=$(INCLUDE_DIR) &&	\
@@ -164,7 +166,6 @@ $(OUTPUT)/test_netcnt: cgroup_helpers.c
 $(OUTPUT)/test_sock_fields: cgroup_helpers.c
 $(OUTPUT)/test_sysctl: cgroup_helpers.c
 
-DEFAULT_BPFTOOL := $(SCRATCH_DIR)/sbin/bpftool
 BPFTOOL ?= $(DEFAULT_BPFTOOL)
 $(DEFAULT_BPFTOOL): $(wildcard $(BPFTOOLDIR)/*.[ch] $(BPFTOOLDIR)/Makefile)    \
 		    $(BPFOBJ) | $(BUILD_DIR)/bpftool