diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2835863bdd5a..5bf6fa4d62d8 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -933,7 +933,11 @@ ifdef CONFIG_STACK_VALIDATION
   ifeq ($(has_libelf),1)
     objtool_target := tools/objtool FORCE
   else
-    $(warning "Cannot use CONFIG_STACK_VALIDATION, please install libelf-dev, libelf-devel or elfutils-libelf-devel")
+    ifdef CONFIG_ORC_UNWINDER
+      $(error "Cannot generate ORC metadata for CONFIG_ORC_UNWINDER=y, please install libelf-dev, libelf-devel or elfutils-libelf-devel")
+    else
+      $(warning "Cannot use CONFIG_STACK_VALIDATION=y, please install libelf-dev, libelf-devel or elfutils-libelf-devel")
+    endif
     SKIP_STACK_VALIDATION := 1
     export SKIP_STACK_VALIDATION
   endif