diff --git a/package/linux-tools/linux-tools.mk b/package/linux-tools/linux-tools.mk
index 81b1fbc176..49e73a9ca4 100644
--- a/package/linux-tools/linux-tools.mk
+++ b/package/linux-tools/linux-tools.mk
@@ -19,8 +19,12 @@
 
 include $(sort $(wildcard package/linux-tools/*.mk.in))
 
-# We only need the kernel to be extracted, not actually built
-LINUX_TOOLS_PATCH_DEPENDENCIES = linux
+# Prevent the kernel from being compiled in parallel with linux-tools. The
+# kernel and some linux-tools (such as perf) use fixdep to manage kconfig
+# dependencies. There is a race condition where the kernel and linux-tools try
+# to build fixdep while the other tries to use fixdep, resulting in the use of
+# fixdep failing.
+LINUX_TOOLS_DEPENDENCIES = linux
 
 # Install Linux kernel tools in the staging directory since some tools
 # may install shared libraries and headers (e.g. cpupower).