diff --git a/tools/perf/util/pmu.c b/tools/perf/util/pmu.c
index 986166bc7c780..0b38c51bd6ebb 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/pmu.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/pmu.c
@@ -1199,8 +1199,12 @@ void perf_pmu__warn_invalid_formats(struct perf_pmu *pmu)
 
 bool evsel__is_aux_event(const struct evsel *evsel)
 {
-	struct perf_pmu *pmu = evsel__find_pmu(evsel);
+	struct perf_pmu *pmu;
+
+	if (evsel->needs_auxtrace_mmap)
+		return true;
 
+	pmu = evsel__find_pmu(evsel);
 	return pmu && pmu->auxtrace;
 }