diff --git a/kernel/bpf/btf.c b/kernel/bpf/btf.c
index 170d017e8e4a..dda0aa0d7175 100644
--- a/kernel/bpf/btf.c
+++ b/kernel/bpf/btf.c
@@ -816,6 +816,8 @@ static bool btf_name_valid_section(const struct btf *btf, u32 offset)
 	const char *src = btf_str_by_offset(btf, offset);
 	const char *src_limit;
 
+	if (!isprint(*src))
+		return false;
 	/* set a limit on identifier length */
 	src_limit = src + KSYM_NAME_LEN;
 	src++;