diff --git a/src/tools/ceph-dencoder/ceph_dencoder.cc b/src/tools/ceph-dencoder/ceph_dencoder.cc
index af039bdf462..a278e08629f 100644
--- a/src/tools/ceph-dencoder/ceph_dencoder.cc
+++ b/src/tools/ceph-dencoder/ceph_dencoder.cc
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@ vector<DencoderPlugin> load_plugins()
   fs::path mod_dir{CEPH_DENC_MOD_DIR};
   if (auto ceph_lib = getenv("CEPH_LIB"); ceph_lib) {
     mod_dir = ceph_lib;
+  } else if (fs::is_regular_file("CMakeCache.txt")) {
+    mod_dir = std::filesystem::canonical("lib");
   }
   if (!fs::is_directory(mod_dir)) {
     std::cerr << "unable to load dencoders from "