diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/unwind_orc.c b/arch/x86/kernel/unwind_orc.c
index 332ae6530fa8..abdf8911a1fb 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/unwind_orc.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/unwind_orc.c
@@ -273,9 +273,11 @@ void __init unwind_init(void)
 		return;
 	}
 
-	/* Sort the .orc_unwind and .orc_unwind_ip tables: */
-	sort(__start_orc_unwind_ip, num_entries, sizeof(int), orc_sort_cmp,
-	     orc_sort_swap);
+	/*
+	 * Note, the orc_unwind and orc_unwind_ip tables were already
+	 * sorted at build time via the 'sorttable' tool.
+	 * It's ready for binary search straight away, no need to sort it.
+	 */
 
 	/* Initialize the fast lookup table: */
 	lookup_num_blocks = orc_lookup_end - orc_lookup;
diff --git a/scripts/link-vmlinux.sh b/scripts/link-vmlinux.sh
index a81aa76bbe18..c287ad9b3a67 100755
--- a/scripts/link-vmlinux.sh
+++ b/scripts/link-vmlinux.sh
@@ -306,7 +306,10 @@ vmlinux_link vmlinux "${kallsymso}" ${btf_vmlinux_bin_o}
 
 if [ -n "${CONFIG_BUILDTIME_TABLE_SORT}" ]; then
 	info SORTTAB vmlinux
-	sorttable vmlinux
+	if ! sorttable vmlinux; then
+		echo >&2 Failed to sort kernel tables
+		exit 1
+	fi
 fi
 
 info SYSMAP System.map