diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 59c69490b..130cef7a2 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ linux (4.17.6-2) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * [armhf] drm/sun4i: Ignore ABI changes (fixes FTBFS)
   * debian/control: Fix arch/profile qualifications for libelf-dev
     build-dependency
+  * debian/rules.real: Pass KERNEL_ARCH variable down to debian/rules.d
 
  -- Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk>  Thu, 12 Jul 2018 15:16:15 +0100
 
diff --git a/debian/rules.real b/debian/rules.real
index 200ae026d..692ed70bd 100644
--- a/debian/rules.real
+++ b/debian/rules.real
@@ -581,7 +581,7 @@ install-source: $(BUILD_DIR)/$(SOURCE_BASENAME)-source-$(UPSTREAMVERSION).tar.xz
 	+$(MAKE_SELF) install-base BUILDDEB_ARGS='-Zgzip -z1'
 
 define make-tools
-+mkdir -p $(BUILD_DIR)/build-tools/$(1) && $(MAKE_CLEAN) -C $(BUILD_DIR)/build-tools/$(1) -f $(CURDIR)/debian/rules.d/$(1)/Makefile top_srcdir=$(CURDIR) top_rulesdir=$(CURDIR)/debian/rules.d OUTDIR=$(1) VERSION=$(VERSION)
++mkdir -p $(BUILD_DIR)/build-tools/$(1) && $(MAKE_CLEAN) -C $(BUILD_DIR)/build-tools/$(1) -f $(CURDIR)/debian/rules.d/$(1)/Makefile top_srcdir=$(CURDIR) top_rulesdir=$(CURDIR)/debian/rules.d OUTDIR=$(1) VERSION=$(VERSION) KERNEL_ARCH=$(KERNEL_ARCH)
 endef
 
 $(STAMPS_DIR)/build-tools: