diff --git a/util/nvmutil/Makefile b/util/nvmutil/Makefile
index ca23c714..a1999d7e 100644
--- a/util/nvmutil/Makefile
+++ b/util/nvmutil/Makefile
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 # SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2022,2025 Leah Rowe <leah@libreboot.org>
 # SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2023 Riku Viitanen <riku.viitanen@protonmail.com>
 
-CC=cc
-CFLAGS=-Os -Wall -Wextra -Werror -pedantic
+CC?=cc
+CFLAGS?=-Os -Wall -Wextra -Werror -pedantic
 PREFIX?=/usr/bin
 
 nvm: nvmutil.c