diff --git a/spectre-meltdown-checker.sh b/spectre-meltdown-checker.sh
index 30828cc..6690968 100755
--- a/spectre-meltdown-checker.sh
+++ b/spectre-meltdown-checker.sh
@@ -481,17 +481,7 @@ vmlinux=''
 vmlinux_err=''
 check_vmlinux()
 {
-	readelf -h "$1" > /dev/null 2>&1 && return 0
-	# normally we would just use readelf to test for the binary, and it would be sufficient.
-	# but for some archs/distros it doesn't work well (issue #82), so we add a dumber check:
-	# uncompressed kernels always have the following string present
-	if ! which strings >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-		vmlinux_err="missing 'strings' tool, please install it, usually it's in the 'binutils' package"
-		return 0
-	else
-		strings "$1" | grep -q '^Linux version ' && return 0
-	fi
-	# not found: kernel not valid
+	readelf -h "$1" >/dev/null 2>&1 && return 0
 	return 1
 }