diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 00231bc09d4..48713979695 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ toolchain go1.22.3
 require (
 	github.com/bombsimon/logrusr/v4 v4.1.0
 	github.com/cilium/cilium v1.15.7
-	github.com/cilium/ebpf v0.15.1-0.20240723115216-b689d288f907
+	github.com/cilium/ebpf v0.16.0
 	github.com/cilium/little-vm-helper v0.0.19
 	github.com/cilium/lumberjack/v2 v2.3.0
 	github.com/cilium/tetragon/api v0.0.0-00010101000000-000000000000
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index bf8e46859fc..f919fbba5c8 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -55,8 +55,8 @@ github.com/cilium/cilium v1.15.7 h1:7LwGfAW/fR/VFcm6zlESjE2Ut5vJWe+kdWq3RNJrNRc=
 github.com/cilium/cilium v1.15.7/go.mod h1:6Ml8eeyWjMJKDeadutWhn5NibMps0H+yLOgfKBoHTUs=
 github.com/cilium/controller-tools v0.8.0-1 h1:D5xhwSUZZceaKAacHOyfcpUMgLbs2TGeJEijNHlAQlc=
 github.com/cilium/controller-tools v0.8.0-1/go.mod h1:qE2DXhVOiEq5ijmINcFbqi9GZrrUjzB1TuJU0xa6eoY=
-github.com/cilium/ebpf v0.15.1-0.20240723115216-b689d288f907 h1:BOjEZLrpgON0BnbxBdY2NkKMIe6Km8IFP/XSTmKBk/E=
-github.com/cilium/ebpf v0.15.1-0.20240723115216-b689d288f907/go.mod h1:L7u2Blt2jMM/vLAVgjxluxtBKlz3/GWjB0dMOEngfwE=
+github.com/cilium/ebpf v0.16.0 h1:+BiEnHL6Z7lXnlGUsXQPPAE7+kenAd4ES8MQ5min0Ok=
+github.com/cilium/ebpf v0.16.0/go.mod h1:L7u2Blt2jMM/vLAVgjxluxtBKlz3/GWjB0dMOEngfwE=
 github.com/cilium/little-vm-helper v0.0.19 h1:eJeJM/03MGLrLUXXTBDZo2JoX5cIbm5+9iWjoHgpy/M=
 github.com/cilium/little-vm-helper v0.0.19/go.mod h1:X3HGJKJ3/8vqP06VyajvD0nNDLYnGv96W8jWx4m3I7g=
 github.com/cilium/lumberjack/v2 v2.3.0 h1:IhVJMvPpqDYmQzC0KDhAoy7KlaRsyOsZnT97Nsa3u0o=
diff --git a/vendor/github.com/cilium/ebpf/map.go b/vendor/github.com/cilium/ebpf/map.go
index 61c7d0a8094..0b62101c3cb 100644
--- a/vendor/github.com/cilium/ebpf/map.go
+++ b/vendor/github.com/cilium/ebpf/map.go
@@ -513,9 +513,6 @@ func handleMapCreateError(attr sys.MapCreateAttr, spec *MapSpec, err error) erro
 			return fmt.Errorf("map create: %w (ring map size %d not a multiple of page size %d)", err, maxEntries, pageSize)
 		}
 	}
-	if attr.BtfFd == 0 {
-		return fmt.Errorf("map create: %w (without BTF k/v)", err)
-	}
 
 	return fmt.Errorf("map create: %w", err)
 }
diff --git a/vendor/modules.txt b/vendor/modules.txt
index 128802a1a02..29bfda940bf 100644
--- a/vendor/modules.txt
+++ b/vendor/modules.txt
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ github.com/cilium/cilium/pkg/u8proto
 github.com/cilium/cilium/pkg/version
 github.com/cilium/cilium/pkg/versioncheck
 github.com/cilium/cilium/pkg/wireguard/types
-# github.com/cilium/ebpf v0.15.1-0.20240723115216-b689d288f907
+# github.com/cilium/ebpf v0.16.0
 ## explicit; go 1.21
 github.com/cilium/ebpf
 github.com/cilium/ebpf/asm