diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/elfutils/debug-info-from-env.patch b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/elfutils/debug-info-from-env.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..409f1311c315
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/elfutils/debug-info-from-env.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+Look up .build-id files relative to the directories in the
+colon-separated environment variable NIX_DEBUG_INFO_DIRS, unless
+overriden by --debuginfo-path.
+
+diff -ru elfutils-0.169-orig/libdwfl/argp-std.c elfutils-0.169/libdwfl/argp-std.c
+--- elfutils-0.169-orig/libdwfl/argp-std.c	2017-05-02 23:05:52.000000000 +0200
++++ elfutils-0.169/libdwfl/argp-std.c	2017-07-28 16:08:06.739558106 +0200
+@@ -376,5 +376,7 @@
+ const struct argp *
+ dwfl_standard_argp (void)
+ {
++  debuginfo_path = getenv("NIX_DEBUG_INFO_DIRS");
++
+   return &libdwfl_argp;
+ }
+diff -ru elfutils-0.169-orig/src/stack.c elfutils-0.169/src/stack.c
+--- elfutils-0.169-orig/src/stack.c	2017-02-24 11:55:28.000000000 +0100
++++ elfutils-0.169/src/stack.c	2017-07-28 15:50:06.743196696 +0200
+@@ -631,6 +631,8 @@
+   /* Set locale.  */
+   (void) setlocale (LC_ALL, "");
+ 
++  debuginfo_path = getenv("NIX_DEBUG_INFO_DIRS");
++
+   const struct argp_option options[] =
+     {
+       { NULL, 0, NULL, 0, N_("Input selection options:"), 0 },
diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/elfutils/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/elfutils/default.nix
index d8e54e47404e..591e263205c8 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/misc/elfutils/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/misc/elfutils/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ lib, stdenv, fetchurl, m4, zlib, bzip2, bison, flex, gettext, xz }:
+{ lib, stdenv, fetchurl, m4, zlib, bzip2, bison, flex, gettext, xz, setupDebugInfoDirs }:
 
 # TODO: Look at the hardcoded paths to kernel, modules etc.
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "1hiv1yqig3292dwqhrwsxwk3qjalxp5fpl8yphwbfwh8ng3zl4ll";
   };
 
+  patches = ./debug-info-from-env.patch;
+
   hardeningDisable = [ "format" ];
 
   # We need bzip2 in NativeInputs because otherwise we can't unpack the src,
@@ -17,6 +19,8 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   nativeBuildInputs = [ m4 bison flex gettext bzip2 ];
   buildInputs = [ zlib bzip2 xz ];
 
+  propagatedNativeBuildInputs = [ setupDebugInfoDirs ];
+
   configureFlags =
     [ "--program-prefix=eu-" # prevent collisions with binutils
       "--enable-deterministic-archives"