diff --git a/tools/bpf/bpftool/json_writer.c b/tools/bpf/bpftool/json_writer.c
index bca5dd0a59e3..be379613d118 100644
--- a/tools/bpf/bpftool/json_writer.c
+++ b/tools/bpf/bpftool/json_writer.c
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ static void jsonw_puts(json_writer_t *self, const char *str)
 			fputs("\\b", self->out);
 			break;
 		case '\\':
-			fputs("\\n", self->out);
+			fputs("\\\\", self->out);
 			break;
 		case '"':
 			fputs("\\\"", self->out);
diff --git a/tools/bpf/bpftool/json_writer.h b/tools/bpf/bpftool/json_writer.h
index 8ace65cdb92f..5aaffd3b837b 100644
--- a/tools/bpf/bpftool/json_writer.h
+++ b/tools/bpf/bpftool/json_writer.h
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #include <stdbool.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <stdarg.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
 #include <linux/compiler.h>
 
 /* Opaque class structure */