diff --git a/kernel/module/Kconfig b/kernel/module/Kconfig
index 2edb7e82e6a9..45936ca8b83a 100644
--- a/kernel/module/Kconfig
+++ b/kernel/module/Kconfig
@@ -420,7 +420,7 @@ config UNUSED_KSYMS_WHITELIST
 	  exported at all times, even in absence of in-tree users. The value to
 	  set here is the path to a text file containing the list of symbols,
 	  one per line. The path can be absolute, or relative to the kernel
-	  source tree.
+	  source or obj tree.
 
 config MODULES_TREE_LOOKUP
 	def_bool y
diff --git a/scripts/Makefile.modpost b/scripts/Makefile.modpost
index 12b7b4fb18dd..99249e4f0cca 100644
--- a/scripts/Makefile.modpost
+++ b/scripts/Makefile.modpost
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ endif
 
 ifdef CONFIG_TRIM_UNUSED_KSYMS
 ksym-wl := $(CONFIG_UNUSED_KSYMS_WHITELIST)
-ksym-wl := $(if $(filter-out /%, $(ksym-wl)),$(srctree)/)$(ksym-wl)
+ksym-wl := $(if $(filter-out /%, $(ksym-wl)),$(if $(wildcard $(ksym-wl)),,$(srctree)/))$(ksym-wl)
 modpost-args += -t $(addprefix -u , $(ksym-wl))
 modpost-deps += $(ksym-wl)
 endif