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))
        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 ||