diff --git a/meta/classes/cve-check.bbclass b/meta/classes/cve-check.bbclass
index 3a9e227288..13ec62ec9b 100644
--- a/meta/classes/cve-check.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/cve-check.bbclass
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 
 # The product name that the CVE database uses.  Defaults to BPN, but may need to
 # be overriden per recipe (for example tiff.bb sets CVE_PRODUCT=libtiff).
-CVE_PRODUCT ?= "${BPN}"
+CVE_PRODUCT ??= "${BPN}"
 
 CVE_CHECK_DB_DIR ?= "${DL_DIR}/CVE_CHECK"
 CVE_CHECK_DB_FILE ?= "${CVE_CHECK_DB_DIR}/nvd.db"