diff --git a/package/lmbench/lmbench.mk b/package/lmbench/lmbench.mk
index 59e750c589..f593428ac1 100644
--- a/package/lmbench/lmbench.mk
+++ b/package/lmbench/lmbench.mk
@@ -11,24 +11,27 @@ LMBENCH_LICENSE = lmbench license (based on GPLv2)
 LMBENCH_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING COPYING-2
 
 LMBENCH_CFLAGS = $(TARGET_CFLAGS)
-LMBENCH_LDLIBS = $(TARGET_LDFLAGS)
 
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_LIBTIRPC),y)
 LMBENCH_DEPENDENCIES += host-pkgconf libtirpc
 LMBENCH_CFLAGS += $(shell $(PKG_CONFIG_HOST_BINARY) --cflags libtirpc)
-LMBENCH_LDFLAGS += $(shell $(PKG_CONFIG_HOST_BINARY) --libs libtirpc)
+LMBENCH_LDLIBS = $(shell $(PKG_CONFIG_HOST_BINARY) --libs libtirpc)
 endif
 
 define LMBENCH_CONFIGURE_CMDS
 	$(call CONFIG_UPDATE,$(@D))
 	sed -i 's/CFLAGS=/CFLAGS+=/g' $(@D)/src/Makefile
+	sed -i 's/LDLIBS=/LDLIBS+=/g' $(@D)/scripts/build
 	sed -i '/cd .*doc/d' $(@D)/src/Makefile
 	sed -i '/include/d' $(@D)/src/Makefile
 	touch $@
 endef
 
+# Note: there is a second stage 'make' invocation from the 'scripts/build'
+# script. So the variables override below don't take direct effect in
+# src/Makefile.
 define LMBENCH_BUILD_CMDS
-	$(MAKE) CFLAGS="$(LMBENCH_CFLAGS)" LDFLAGS="$(LMBENCH_LDFLAGS)" OS=$(ARCH) CC="$(TARGET_CC)" -C $(@D)/src
+	$(MAKE) CFLAGS="$(LMBENCH_CFLAGS)" LDLIBS="$(LMBENCH_LDLIBS)" OS=$(ARCH) CC="$(TARGET_CC)" -C $(@D)/src
 endef
 
 define LMBENCH_INSTALL_TARGET_CMDS