diff --git a/scripts/Makefile.build b/scripts/Makefile.build
index cc7061258e42..b6ae652a943f 100644
--- a/scripts/Makefile.build
+++ b/scripts/Makefile.build
@@ -249,9 +249,12 @@ cmd_gen_ksymdeps = \
 	$(CONFIG_SHELL) $(srctree)/scripts/gen_ksymdeps.sh $@ >> $(dot-target).cmd
 endif
 
+cmd_check_local_export = $(srctree)/scripts/check-local-export $@
+
 define rule_cc_o_c
 	$(call cmd_and_fixdep,cc_o_c)
 	$(call cmd,gen_ksymdeps)
+	$(call cmd,check_local_export)
 	$(call cmd,checksrc)
 	$(call cmd,checkdoc)
 	$(call cmd,gen_objtooldep)
@@ -262,6 +265,7 @@ endef
 define rule_as_o_S
 	$(call cmd_and_fixdep,as_o_S)
 	$(call cmd,gen_ksymdeps)
+	$(call cmd,check_local_export)
 	$(call cmd,gen_objtooldep)
 	$(call cmd,gen_symversions_S)
 endef
diff --git a/scripts/check-local-export b/scripts/check-local-export
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..2c46912be0ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check-local-export
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2022 Masahiro Yamada <masahiroy@kernel.org>
+#
+# Exit with error if a local exported symbol is found.
+# EXPORT_SYMBOL should be used for global symbols.
+
+set -e
+
+declare -A symbol_types
+declare -a export_symbols
+
+exit_code=0
+
+while read value type name
+do
+	# Skip the line if the number of fields is less than 3.
+	#
+	# case 1)
+	#   For undefined symbols, the first field (value) is empty.
+	#   The outout looks like this:
+	#     "                 U _printk"
+	#   It is unneeded to record undefined symbols.
+	#
+	# case 2)
+	#   For Clang LTO, llvm-nm outputs a line with type 't' but empty name:
+	#     "---------------- t"
+	if [[ -z ${name} ]]; then
+		continue
+	fi
+
+	# save (name, type) in the associative array
+	symbol_types[${name}]=${type}
+
+	# append the exported symbol to the array
+	if [[ ${name} == __ksymtab_* ]]; then
+		export_symbols+=(${name#__ksymtab_})
+	fi
+
+	# If there is no symbol in the object, ${NM} (both GNU nm and llvm-nm)
+	# shows 'no symbols' diagnostic (but exits with 0). It is harmless and
+	# hidden by '2>/dev/null'. However, it suppresses real error messages
+	# as well. Add a hand-crafted error message here.
+	#
+	# Use --quiet instead of 2>/dev/null when we upgrade the minimum version
+	# of binutils to 2.37, llvm to 13.0.0.
+	#
+	# Then, the following line will be really simple:
+	#   done < <(${NM} --quiet ${1})
+done < <(${NM} ${1} 2>/dev/null || { echo "${0}: ${NM} failed" >&2; false; } )
+
+# Catch error in the process substitution
+wait $!
+
+for name in "${export_symbols[@]}"
+do
+	# nm(3) says "If lowercase, the symbol is usually local"
+	if [[ ${symbol_types[$name]} =~ [a-z] ]]; then
+		echo "$@: error: local symbol '${name}' was exported" >&2
+		exit_code=1
+	fi
+done
+
+exit ${exit_code}
diff --git a/scripts/mod/modpost.c b/scripts/mod/modpost.c
index e74224a6a8e8..9269735f85c5 100644
--- a/scripts/mod/modpost.c
+++ b/scripts/mod/modpost.c
@@ -212,7 +212,6 @@ struct symbol {
 	unsigned int crc;
 	bool crc_valid;
 	bool weak;
-	bool is_static;		/* true if symbol is not global */
 	bool is_gpl_only;	/* exported by EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL */
 	char name[];
 };
@@ -242,7 +241,7 @@ static struct symbol *alloc_symbol(const char *name)
 
 	memset(s, 0, sizeof(*s));
 	strcpy(s->name, name);
-	s->is_static = true;
+
 	return s;
 }
 
@@ -2064,20 +2063,6 @@ static void read_symbols(const char *modname)
 					     sym_get_data(&info, sym));
 	}
 
-	// check for static EXPORT_SYMBOL_* functions && global vars
-	for (sym = info.symtab_start; sym < info.symtab_stop; sym++) {
-		unsigned char bind = ELF_ST_BIND(sym->st_info);
-
-		if (bind == STB_GLOBAL || bind == STB_WEAK) {
-			struct symbol *s =
-				find_symbol(remove_dot(info.strtab +
-						       sym->st_name));
-
-			if (s)
-				s->is_static = false;
-		}
-	}
-
 	check_sec_ref(modname, &info);
 
 	if (!mod->is_vmlinux) {
@@ -2507,7 +2492,6 @@ static void read_dump(const char *fname)
 			mod->from_dump = true;
 		}
 		s = sym_add_exported(symname, mod, gpl_only);
-		s->is_static = false;
 		sym_set_crc(s, crc);
 		sym_update_namespace(symname, namespace);
 	}
@@ -2572,7 +2556,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	char *missing_namespace_deps = NULL;
 	char *dump_write = NULL, *files_source = NULL;
 	int opt;
-	int n;
 	LIST_HEAD(dump_lists);
 	struct dump_list *dl, *dl2;
 
@@ -2648,15 +2631,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	if (sec_mismatch_count && !sec_mismatch_warn_only)
 		error("Section mismatches detected.\n"
 		      "Set CONFIG_SECTION_MISMATCH_WARN_ONLY=y to allow them.\n");
-	for (n = 0; n < SYMBOL_HASH_SIZE; n++) {
-		struct symbol *s;
-
-		for (s = symbolhash[n]; s; s = s->next) {
-			if (s->is_static)
-				error("\"%s\" [%s] is a static EXPORT_SYMBOL\n",
-				      s->name, s->module->name);
-		}
-	}
 
 	if (nr_unresolved > MAX_UNRESOLVED_REPORTS)
 		warn("suppressed %u unresolved symbol warnings because there were too many)\n",