diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c b/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
index 3964cf44cdbc..e541d0e2777a 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
@@ -3398,6 +3398,19 @@ static struct bpf_program *trace__find_usable_bpf_prog_entry(struct trace *trace
 			if (strcmp(field->type, candidate_field->type))
 				goto next_candidate;
 
+			/*
+			 * This is limited in the BPF program but sys_write
+			 * uses "const char *" for its "buf" arg so we need to
+			 * use some heuristic that is kinda future proof...
+			 */
+			if (strcmp(field->type, "const char *") == 0 &&
+			    !(strstr(field->name, "name") ||
+			      strstr(field->name, "path") ||
+			      strstr(field->name, "file") ||
+			      strstr(field->name, "root") ||
+			      strstr(field->name, "description")))
+				goto next_candidate;
+
 			is_candidate = true;
 		}