diff --git a/include/kernel.mk b/include/kernel.mk
index f27b78bbcc..01b737f132 100644
--- a/include/kernel.mk
+++ b/include/kernel.mk
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ KERNEL_MAKE_FLAGS = \
 	KBUILD_BUILD_HOST="$(call qstrip,$(CONFIG_KERNEL_BUILD_DOMAIN))" \
 	KBUILD_BUILD_TIMESTAMP="$(KBUILD_BUILD_TIMESTAMP)" \
 	KBUILD_BUILD_VERSION="0" \
-	KBUILD_HOSTLDLIBS="-L$(STAGING_DIR_HOST)/lib" \
+	KBUILD_HOSTLDFLAGS="-L$(STAGING_DIR_HOST)/lib" \
 	CONFIG_SHELL="$(BASH)" \
 	$(if $(findstring c,$(OPENWRT_VERBOSE)),V=1,V='') \
 	$(if $(PKG_BUILD_ID),LDFLAGS_MODULE=--build-id=0x$(PKG_BUILD_ID)) \