diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/kprobes.c b/arch/x86/kernel/kprobes.c
index f1a6244d7d93..794bc95134cd 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/kprobes.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/kprobes.c
@@ -75,8 +75,10 @@ DEFINE_PER_CPU(struct kprobe_ctlblk, kprobe_ctlblk);
 	/*
 	 * Undefined/reserved opcodes, conditional jump, Opcode Extension
 	 * Groups, and some special opcodes can not boost.
+	 * This is non-const to keep gcc from statically optimizing it out, as
+	 * variable_test_bit makes gcc think only *(unsigned long*) is used.
 	 */
-static const u32 twobyte_is_boostable[256 / 32] = {
+static u32 twobyte_is_boostable[256 / 32] = {
 	/*      0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f          */
 	/*      ----------------------------------------------          */
 	W(0x00, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0) | /* 00 */