diff --git a/drivers/base/base.h b/drivers/base/base.h
index 4660e1159ee005b74484df56ea58417cae750287..e96f3343fd7c6aece6d6148f3e60ecd2582fee6f 100644
--- a/drivers/base/base.h
+++ b/drivers/base/base.h
@@ -191,9 +191,6 @@ const char *device_get_devnode(const struct device *dev, umode_t *mode,
 extern struct kset *devices_kset;
 void devices_kset_move_last(struct device *dev);
 
-/* /sys/dev/char directory */
-extern struct kobject *sysfs_dev_char_kobj;
-
 #if defined(CONFIG_MODULES) && defined(CONFIG_SYSFS)
 void module_add_driver(struct module *mod, struct device_driver *drv);
 void module_remove_driver(struct device_driver *drv);
diff --git a/drivers/base/core.c b/drivers/base/core.c
index cf6f41c2060ce507d985d3f02dd6cfc806d1f9ba..47e16c088e778c7b34090d8e495dfc66c67e5c1d 100644
--- a/drivers/base/core.c
+++ b/drivers/base/core.c
@@ -2255,7 +2255,9 @@ static void fw_devlink_link_device(struct device *dev)
 int (*platform_notify)(struct device *dev) = NULL;
 int (*platform_notify_remove)(struct device *dev) = NULL;
 static struct kobject *dev_kobj;
-struct kobject *sysfs_dev_char_kobj;
+
+/* /sys/dev/char */
+static struct kobject *sysfs_dev_char_kobj;
 
 /* /sys/dev/block */
 static struct kobject *sysfs_dev_block_kobj;