diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel-headers/default.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel-headers/default.nix
index bb2e6a288037..7153e730a4a1 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel-headers/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel-headers/default.nix
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ in
 stdenv.mkDerivation {
   name = "linux-headers-${version}";
 
-  src = kernel.src;
+  src = kernel.headersSrc;
 
   targetConfig = if (cross != null) then cross.config else null;
 
diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/generic.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/generic.nix
index a86aef1af8e3..355f0c9c5ba0 100644
--- a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/generic.nix
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/generic.nix
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
 , # The kernel source tarball.
   src
 
+, # The kernel headers source tarball.
+  headersSrc ? src
+
 , # The kernel version.
   version
 
@@ -69,7 +72,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
   passthru = {
-    inherit version modDirVersion;
+    inherit version modDirVersion headersSrc;
     # Combine the `features' attribute sets of all the kernel patches.
     features = lib.fold (x: y: (if x ? features then x.features else {}) // y) features kernelPatches;
   };