diff --git a/tools/objtool/elf.c b/tools/objtool/elf.c
index 3d27983dc908..6f64d611faea 100644
--- a/tools/objtool/elf.c
+++ b/tools/objtool/elf.c
@@ -224,12 +224,17 @@ int find_symbol_hole_containing(const struct section *sec, unsigned long offset)
 	if (n)
 		return 0; /* not a hole */
 
-	/* didn't find a symbol for which @offset is after it */
-	if (!hole.sym)
-		return 0; /* not a hole */
+	/*
+	 * @offset >= sym->offset + sym->len, find symbol after it.
+	 * When hole.sym is empty, use the first node to compute the hole.
+	 * If there is no symbol in the section, the first node will be NULL,
+	 * in which case, -1 is returned to skip the whole section.
+	 */
+	if (hole.sym)
+		n = rb_next(&hole.sym->node);
+	else
+		n = rb_first_cached(&sec->symbol_tree);
 
-	/* @offset >= sym->offset + sym->len, find symbol after it */
-	n = rb_next(&hole.sym->node);
 	if (!n)
 		return -1; /* until end of address space */