diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index f41ec8c8426b..9a496bef3170 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1118,7 +1118,7 @@ endif
 # We never want expected sections to be placed heuristically by the
 # linker. All sections should be explicitly named in the linker script.
 ifdef CONFIG_LD_ORPHAN_WARN
-LDFLAGS_vmlinux += --orphan-handling=warn
+LDFLAGS_vmlinux += --orphan-handling=$(CONFIG_LD_ORPHAN_WARN_LEVEL)
 endif
 
 # Align the bit size of userspace programs with the kernel
diff --git a/arch/arm/boot/compressed/Makefile b/arch/arm/boot/compressed/Makefile
index 41bcbb460fac..53cadc3aaff1 100644
--- a/arch/arm/boot/compressed/Makefile
+++ b/arch/arm/boot/compressed/Makefile
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ LDFLAGS_vmlinux += --no-undefined
 LDFLAGS_vmlinux += -X
 # Report orphan sections
 ifdef CONFIG_LD_ORPHAN_WARN
-LDFLAGS_vmlinux += --orphan-handling=warn
+LDFLAGS_vmlinux += --orphan-handling=$(CONFIG_LD_ORPHAN_WARN_LEVEL)
 endif
 # Next argument is a linker script
 LDFLAGS_vmlinux += -T
diff --git a/arch/arm64/kernel/vdso/Makefile b/arch/arm64/kernel/vdso/Makefile
index 619e2dc7ee14..beaf9586338f 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kernel/vdso/Makefile
+++ b/arch/arm64/kernel/vdso/Makefile
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ ldflags-y := -shared -soname=linux-vdso.so.1 --hash-style=sysv	\
 	     -Bsymbolic --build-id=sha1 -n $(btildflags-y)
 
 ifdef CONFIG_LD_ORPHAN_WARN
-  ldflags-y += --orphan-handling=warn
+  ldflags-y += --orphan-handling=$(CONFIG_LD_ORPHAN_WARN_LEVEL)
 endif
 
 ldflags-y += -T
diff --git a/arch/arm64/kernel/vdso32/Makefile b/arch/arm64/kernel/vdso32/Makefile
index 36c8f66cad25..f59bd1a4ead6 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kernel/vdso32/Makefile
+++ b/arch/arm64/kernel/vdso32/Makefile
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ VDSO_AFLAGS += -D__ASSEMBLY__
 VDSO_LDFLAGS += -Bsymbolic --no-undefined -soname=linux-vdso.so.1
 VDSO_LDFLAGS += -z max-page-size=4096 -z common-page-size=4096
 VDSO_LDFLAGS += -shared --hash-style=sysv --build-id=sha1
-VDSO_LDFLAGS += --orphan-handling=warn
+VDSO_LDFLAGS += --orphan-handling=$(CONFIG_LD_ORPHAN_WARN_LEVEL)
 
 
 # Borrow vdsomunge.c from the arm vDSO
diff --git a/arch/x86/boot/compressed/Makefile b/arch/x86/boot/compressed/Makefile
index 3a261abb6d15..66b8a8cb5a0f 100644
--- a/arch/x86/boot/compressed/Makefile
+++ b/arch/x86/boot/compressed/Makefile
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ KBUILD_LDFLAGS += $(call ld-option,--no-ld-generated-unwind-info)
 # address by the bootloader.
 LDFLAGS_vmlinux := -pie $(call ld-option, --no-dynamic-linker)
 ifdef CONFIG_LD_ORPHAN_WARN
-LDFLAGS_vmlinux += --orphan-handling=warn
+LDFLAGS_vmlinux += --orphan-handling=$(CONFIG_LD_ORPHAN_WARN_LEVEL)
 endif
 LDFLAGS_vmlinux += -z noexecstack
 ifeq ($(CONFIG_LD_IS_BFD),y)
diff --git a/init/Kconfig b/init/Kconfig
index 694f7c160c9c..bb1225ef04e7 100644
--- a/init/Kconfig
+++ b/init/Kconfig
@@ -159,10 +159,12 @@ config WERROR
 	help
 	  A kernel build should not cause any compiler warnings, and this
 	  enables the '-Werror' (for C) and '-Dwarnings' (for Rust) flags
-	  to enforce that rule by default.
+	  to enforce that rule by default. Certain warnings from other tools
+	  such as the linker may be upgraded to errors with this option as
+	  well.
 
-	  However, if you have a new (or very old) compiler with odd and
-	  unusual warnings, or you have some architecture with problems,
+	  However, if you have a new (or very old) compiler or linker with odd
+	  and unusual warnings, or you have some architecture with problems,
 	  you may need to disable this config option in order to
 	  successfully build the kernel.
 
@@ -1454,6 +1456,13 @@ config LD_ORPHAN_WARN
 	def_bool y
 	depends on ARCH_WANT_LD_ORPHAN_WARN
 	depends on $(ld-option,--orphan-handling=warn)
+	depends on $(ld-option,--orphan-handling=error)
+
+config LD_ORPHAN_WARN_LEVEL
+        string
+        depends on LD_ORPHAN_WARN
+        default "error" if WERROR
+        default "warn"
 
 config SYSCTL
 	bool