diff --git a/tools/lib/bpf/libbpf.c b/tools/lib/bpf/libbpf.c
index e840e48d3a76..c9aa5b1278fc 100644
--- a/tools/lib/bpf/libbpf.c
+++ b/tools/lib/bpf/libbpf.c
@@ -6682,17 +6682,32 @@ static int libbpf_prepare_prog_load(struct bpf_program *prog,
 	if (prog->type == BPF_PROG_TYPE_XDP && (def & SEC_XDP_FRAGS))
 		opts->prog_flags |= BPF_F_XDP_HAS_FRAGS;
 
-	if (def & SEC_DEPRECATED)
+	if (def & SEC_DEPRECATED) {
 		pr_warn("SEC(\"%s\") is deprecated, please see https://github.com/libbpf/libbpf/wiki/Libbpf-1.0-migration-guide#bpf-program-sec-annotation-deprecations for details\n",
 			prog->sec_name);
+	}
 
-	if ((prog->type == BPF_PROG_TYPE_TRACING ||
-	     prog->type == BPF_PROG_TYPE_LSM ||
-	     prog->type == BPF_PROG_TYPE_EXT) && !prog->attach_btf_id) {
+	if ((def & SEC_ATTACH_BTF) && !prog->attach_btf_id) {
 		int btf_obj_fd = 0, btf_type_id = 0, err;
 		const char *attach_name;
 
-		attach_name = strchr(prog->sec_name, '/') + 1;
+		attach_name = strchr(prog->sec_name, '/');
+		if (!attach_name) {
+			/* if BPF program is annotated with just SEC("fentry")
+			 * (or similar) without declaratively specifying
+			 * target, then it is expected that target will be
+			 * specified with bpf_program__set_attach_target() at
+			 * runtime before BPF object load step. If not, then
+			 * there is nothing to load into the kernel as BPF
+			 * verifier won't be able to validate BPF program
+			 * correctness anyways.
+			 */
+			pr_warn("prog '%s': no BTF-based attach target is specified, use bpf_program__set_attach_target()\n",
+				prog->name);
+			return -EINVAL;
+		}
+		attach_name++; /* skip over / */
+
 		err = libbpf_find_attach_btf_id(prog, attach_name, &btf_obj_fd, &btf_type_id);
 		if (err)
 			return err;
@@ -8869,18 +8884,18 @@ static const struct bpf_sec_def section_defs[] = {
 	SEC_DEF("raw_tp+",		RAW_TRACEPOINT, 0, SEC_NONE, attach_raw_tp),
 	SEC_DEF("raw_tracepoint.w+",	RAW_TRACEPOINT_WRITABLE, 0, SEC_NONE, attach_raw_tp),
 	SEC_DEF("raw_tp.w+",		RAW_TRACEPOINT_WRITABLE, 0, SEC_NONE, attach_raw_tp),
-	SEC_DEF("tp_btf/",		TRACING, BPF_TRACE_RAW_TP, SEC_ATTACH_BTF, attach_trace),
-	SEC_DEF("fentry/",		TRACING, BPF_TRACE_FENTRY, SEC_ATTACH_BTF, attach_trace),
-	SEC_DEF("fmod_ret/",		TRACING, BPF_MODIFY_RETURN, SEC_ATTACH_BTF, attach_trace),
-	SEC_DEF("fexit/",		TRACING, BPF_TRACE_FEXIT, SEC_ATTACH_BTF, attach_trace),
-	SEC_DEF("fentry.s/",		TRACING, BPF_TRACE_FENTRY, SEC_ATTACH_BTF | SEC_SLEEPABLE, attach_trace),
-	SEC_DEF("fmod_ret.s/",		TRACING, BPF_MODIFY_RETURN, SEC_ATTACH_BTF | SEC_SLEEPABLE, attach_trace),
-	SEC_DEF("fexit.s/",		TRACING, BPF_TRACE_FEXIT, SEC_ATTACH_BTF | SEC_SLEEPABLE, attach_trace),
-	SEC_DEF("freplace/",		EXT, 0, SEC_ATTACH_BTF, attach_trace),
-	SEC_DEF("lsm/",			LSM, BPF_LSM_MAC, SEC_ATTACH_BTF, attach_lsm),
-	SEC_DEF("lsm.s/",		LSM, BPF_LSM_MAC, SEC_ATTACH_BTF | SEC_SLEEPABLE, attach_lsm),
-	SEC_DEF("iter/",		TRACING, BPF_TRACE_ITER, SEC_ATTACH_BTF, attach_iter),
-	SEC_DEF("iter.s/",		TRACING, BPF_TRACE_ITER, SEC_ATTACH_BTF | SEC_SLEEPABLE, attach_iter),
+	SEC_DEF("tp_btf+",		TRACING, BPF_TRACE_RAW_TP, SEC_ATTACH_BTF, attach_trace),
+	SEC_DEF("fentry+",		TRACING, BPF_TRACE_FENTRY, SEC_ATTACH_BTF, attach_trace),
+	SEC_DEF("fmod_ret+",		TRACING, BPF_MODIFY_RETURN, SEC_ATTACH_BTF, attach_trace),
+	SEC_DEF("fexit+",		TRACING, BPF_TRACE_FEXIT, SEC_ATTACH_BTF, attach_trace),
+	SEC_DEF("fentry.s+",		TRACING, BPF_TRACE_FENTRY, SEC_ATTACH_BTF | SEC_SLEEPABLE, attach_trace),
+	SEC_DEF("fmod_ret.s+",		TRACING, BPF_MODIFY_RETURN, SEC_ATTACH_BTF | SEC_SLEEPABLE, attach_trace),
+	SEC_DEF("fexit.s+",		TRACING, BPF_TRACE_FEXIT, SEC_ATTACH_BTF | SEC_SLEEPABLE, attach_trace),
+	SEC_DEF("freplace+",		EXT, 0, SEC_ATTACH_BTF, attach_trace),
+	SEC_DEF("lsm+",			LSM, BPF_LSM_MAC, SEC_ATTACH_BTF, attach_lsm),
+	SEC_DEF("lsm.s+",		LSM, BPF_LSM_MAC, SEC_ATTACH_BTF | SEC_SLEEPABLE, attach_lsm),
+	SEC_DEF("iter+",		TRACING, BPF_TRACE_ITER, SEC_ATTACH_BTF, attach_iter),
+	SEC_DEF("iter.s+",		TRACING, BPF_TRACE_ITER, SEC_ATTACH_BTF | SEC_SLEEPABLE, attach_iter),
 	SEC_DEF("syscall",		SYSCALL, 0, SEC_SLEEPABLE),
 	SEC_DEF("xdp.frags/devmap",	XDP, BPF_XDP_DEVMAP, SEC_XDP_FRAGS),
 	SEC_DEF("xdp/devmap",		XDP, BPF_XDP_DEVMAP, SEC_ATTACHABLE),