diff --git a/scripts/Makefile.build b/scripts/Makefile.build
index 496ecd825c71..8624924a2991 100644
--- a/scripts/Makefile.build
+++ b/scripts/Makefile.build
@@ -583,8 +583,13 @@ endif
 ifneq ($(KBUILD_SRC),)
 # Create directories for object files if they do not exist
 obj-dirs := $(sort $(obj) $(patsubst %/,%, $(dir $(targets))))
+# If cmd_files exist, their directories apparently exist.  Skip mkdir.
+exist-dirs := $(sort $(patsubst %/,%, $(dir $(cmd_files))))
+obj-dirs := $(strip $(filter-out $(exist-dirs), $(obj-dirs)))
+ifneq ($(obj-dirs),)
 $(shell mkdir -p $(obj-dirs))
 endif
+endif
 
 # Declare the contents of the .PHONY variable as phony.  We keep that
 # information in a variable se we can use it in if_changed and friends.