diff --git a/tools/lib/bpf/btf.c b/tools/lib/bpf/btf.c
index 0d7b16eab569..e171424192ae 100644
--- a/tools/lib/bpf/btf.c
+++ b/tools/lib/bpf/btf.c
@@ -1124,54 +1124,86 @@ struct btf *btf__parse_split(const char *path, struct btf *base_btf)
 
 static void *btf_get_raw_data(const struct btf *btf, __u32 *size, bool swap_endian);
 
-int btf__load_into_kernel(struct btf *btf)
+int btf_load_into_kernel(struct btf *btf, char *log_buf, size_t log_sz, __u32 log_level)
 {
-	__u32 log_buf_size = 0, raw_size;
-	char *log_buf = NULL;
+	LIBBPF_OPTS(bpf_btf_load_opts, opts);
+	__u32 buf_sz = 0, raw_size;
+	char *buf = NULL, *tmp;
 	void *raw_data;
 	int err = 0;
 
 	if (btf->fd >= 0)
 		return libbpf_err(-EEXIST);
+	if (log_sz && !log_buf)
+		return libbpf_err(-EINVAL);
 
-retry_load:
-	if (log_buf_size) {
-		log_buf = malloc(log_buf_size);
-		if (!log_buf)
-			return libbpf_err(-ENOMEM);
-
-		*log_buf = 0;
-	}
-
+	/* cache native raw data representation */
 	raw_data = btf_get_raw_data(btf, &raw_size, false);
 	if (!raw_data) {
 		err = -ENOMEM;
 		goto done;
 	}
-	/* cache native raw data representation */
 	btf->raw_size = raw_size;
 	btf->raw_data = raw_data;
 
-	btf->fd = bpf_load_btf(raw_data, raw_size, log_buf, log_buf_size, false);
-	if (btf->fd < 0) {
-		if (!log_buf || errno == ENOSPC) {
-			log_buf_size = max((__u32)BPF_LOG_BUF_SIZE,
-					   log_buf_size << 1);
-			free(log_buf);
-			goto retry_load;
+retry_load:
+	/* if log_level is 0, we won't provide log_buf/log_size to the kernel,
+	 * initially. Only if BTF loading fails, we bump log_level to 1 and
+	 * retry, using either auto-allocated or custom log_buf. This way
+	 * non-NULL custom log_buf provides a buffer just in case, but hopes
+	 * for successful load and no need for log_buf.
+	 */
+	if (log_level) {
+		/* if caller didn't provide custom log_buf, we'll keep
+		 * allocating our own progressively bigger buffers for BTF
+		 * verification log
+		 */
+		if (!log_buf) {
+			buf_sz = max((__u32)BPF_LOG_BUF_SIZE, buf_sz * 2);
+			tmp = realloc(buf, buf_sz);
+			if (!tmp) {
+				err = -ENOMEM;
+				goto done;
+			}
+			buf = tmp;
+			buf[0] = '\0';
 		}
 
+		opts.log_buf = log_buf ? log_buf : buf;
+		opts.log_size = log_buf ? log_sz : buf_sz;
+		opts.log_level = log_level;
+	}
+
+	btf->fd = bpf_btf_load(raw_data, raw_size, &opts);
+	if (btf->fd < 0) {
+		/* time to turn on verbose mode and try again */
+		if (log_level == 0) {
+			log_level = 1;
+			goto retry_load;
+		}
+		/* only retry if caller didn't provide custom log_buf, but
+		 * make sure we can never overflow buf_sz
+		 */
+		if (!log_buf && errno == ENOSPC && buf_sz <= UINT_MAX / 2)
+			goto retry_load;
+
 		err = -errno;
-		pr_warn("Error loading BTF: %s(%d)\n", strerror(errno), errno);
-		if (*log_buf)
-			pr_warn("%s\n", log_buf);
-		goto done;
+		pr_warn("BTF loading error: %d\n", err);
+		/* don't print out contents of custom log_buf */
+		if (!log_buf && buf[0])
+			pr_warn("-- BEGIN BTF LOAD LOG ---\n%s\n-- END BTF LOAD LOG --\n", buf);
 	}
 
 done:
-	free(log_buf);
+	free(buf);
 	return libbpf_err(err);
 }
+
+int btf__load_into_kernel(struct btf *btf)
+{
+	return btf_load_into_kernel(btf, NULL, 0, 0);
+}
+
 int btf__load(struct btf *) __attribute__((alias("btf__load_into_kernel")));
 
 int btf__fd(const struct btf *btf)
diff --git a/tools/lib/bpf/libbpf_internal.h b/tools/lib/bpf/libbpf_internal.h
index 6f143e9e810c..355c41019aed 100644
--- a/tools/lib/bpf/libbpf_internal.h
+++ b/tools/lib/bpf/libbpf_internal.h
@@ -277,6 +277,7 @@ int parse_cpu_mask_str(const char *s, bool **mask, int *mask_sz);
 int parse_cpu_mask_file(const char *fcpu, bool **mask, int *mask_sz);
 int libbpf__load_raw_btf(const char *raw_types, size_t types_len,
 			 const char *str_sec, size_t str_len);
+int btf_load_into_kernel(struct btf *btf, char *log_buf, size_t log_sz, __u32 log_level);
 
 struct btf *btf_get_from_fd(int btf_fd, struct btf *base_btf);
 void btf_get_kernel_prefix_kind(enum bpf_attach_type attach_type,