diff --git a/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass b/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
index f3a55535fb..8c8c95b4ea 100644
--- a/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes/kernel.bbclass
@@ -372,6 +372,7 @@ addtask uboot_mkimage before do_install after do_compile
 kernel_do_deploy() {
 	install -m 0644 ${KERNEL_OUTPUT} ${DEPLOYDIR}/${KERNEL_IMAGE_BASE_NAME}.bin
 	if [ ${MODULE_TARBALL_DEPLOY} = "1" ] && (grep -q -i -e '^CONFIG_MODULES=y$' .config); then
+		mkdir -p ${D}/lib
 		tar -cvzf ${DEPLOYDIR}/${MODULE_TARBALL_BASE_NAME} -C ${D} lib
 		ln -sf ${MODULE_TARBALL_BASE_NAME}.bin ${MODULE_TARBALL_SYMLINK_NAME}
 	fi