diff --git a/tools/perf/util/annotate.c b/tools/perf/util/annotate.c
index 3d0263e..6dc9148 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/annotate.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/annotate.c
@@ -1307,6 +1307,7 @@
 {
 	char linkname[PATH_MAX];
 	char *build_id_filename;
+	char *build_id_path = NULL;
 
 	if (dso->symtab_type == DSO_BINARY_TYPE__KALLSYMS &&
 	    !dso__is_kcore(dso))
@@ -1322,8 +1323,14 @@
 		goto fallback;
 	}
 
+	build_id_path = strdup(filename);
+	if (!build_id_path)
+		return -1;
+
+	dirname(build_id_path);
+
 	if (dso__is_kcore(dso) ||
-	    readlink(filename, linkname, sizeof(linkname)) < 0 ||
+	    readlink(build_id_path, linkname, sizeof(linkname)) < 0 ||
 	    strstr(linkname, DSO__NAME_KALLSYMS) ||
 	    access(filename, R_OK)) {
 fallback:
@@ -1335,6 +1342,7 @@
 		__symbol__join_symfs(filename, filename_size, dso->long_name);
 	}
 
+	free(build_id_path);
 	return 0;
 }