diff --git a/syscalls.go b/syscalls.go
index c3cc523f2..ef484bf05 100644
--- a/syscalls.go
+++ b/syscalls.go
@@ -357,10 +357,9 @@ func wrapObjError(err error) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 	if errors.Is(err, unix.ENOENT) {
-		return fmt.Errorf("%w", ErrNotExist)
+		err = ErrNotExist
 	}
-
-	return errors.New(err.Error())
+	return fmt.Errorf("%w", err)
 }
 
 func wrapMapError(err error) error {
diff --git a/syscalls_test.go b/syscalls_test.go
index 45c54212b..be509c413 100644
--- a/syscalls_test.go
+++ b/syscalls_test.go
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 package ebpf
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/cilium/ebpf/internal/testutils"
+	"golang.org/x/sys/unix"
 )
 
 func TestObjNameCharacters(t *testing.T) {
@@ -23,6 +25,22 @@ func TestObjNameCharacters(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestWrapObjError(t *testing.T) {
+	customError := errors.New("custom error for test")
+	for inErr, outErr := range map[error]error{
+		unix.ENOENT: ErrNotExist,
+		unix.EPERM:  unix.EPERM,
+		unix.EACCES: unix.EACCES,
+		unix.ENOANO: unix.ENOANO, // dummy error -- never actually returned
+		customError: customError,
+	} {
+		gotErr := wrapObjError(inErr)
+		if !errors.Is(gotErr, outErr) {
+			t.Errorf("wrapObjError(%v) doesn't wrap %v: got %v", inErr, outErr, gotErr)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func TestHaveBatchAPI(t *testing.T) {
 	testutils.CheckFeatureTest(t, haveBatchAPI)
 }