diff --git a/test/lint/lint-includes.sh b/test/lint/lint-includes.sh
index 4b9e2615b..d27e45a23 100755
--- a/test/lint/lint-includes.sh
+++ b/test/lint/lint-includes.sh
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@
 export LC_ALL=C
 IGNORE_REGEXP="/(leveldb|secp256k1|univalue)/"
 
+# cd to root folder of git repo for git ls-files to work properly
+cd "$(dirname $0)/../.." || exit 1
+
 filter_suffix() {
     git ls-files | grep -E "^src/.*\.${1}"'$' | grep -Ev "${IGNORE_REGEXP}"
 }