diff --git a/tools/lib/bpf/bpf.c b/tools/lib/bpf/bpf.c
index d27e34133973..4025266d0fb0 100644
--- a/tools/lib/bpf/bpf.c
+++ b/tools/lib/bpf/bpf.c
@@ -67,11 +67,12 @@ static inline int sys_bpf(enum bpf_cmd cmd, union bpf_attr *attr,
 
 static inline int sys_bpf_prog_load(union bpf_attr *attr, unsigned int size)
 {
+	int retries = 5;
 	int fd;
 
 	do {
 		fd = sys_bpf(BPF_PROG_LOAD, attr, size);
-	} while (fd < 0 && errno == EAGAIN);
+	} while (fd < 0 && errno == EAGAIN && retries-- > 0);
 
 	return fd;
 }