diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nvidia-x11/generic.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nvidia-x11/generic.nix
index 0d19079fe662..74936a02ce7d 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nvidia-x11/generic.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/nvidia-x11/generic.nix
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 }:
 
 { stdenv, callPackage, callPackage_i686, fetchurl, fetchpatch
-, kernel ? null, xorg, zlib, perl, nukeReferences
+, kernel ? null, libelf, xorg, zlib, perl, nukeReferences
 , # Whether to build the libraries only (i.e. not the kernel module or
   # nvidia-settings).  Used to support 32-bit binaries on 64-bit
   # Linux.
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@ let
 
     nativeBuildInputs = [ perl nukeReferences ];
 
+    buildInputs = [ libelf ];
+
     disallowedReferences = optional (!libsOnly) [ kernel.dev ];
 
     passthru = {