diff --git a/ggml/src/ggml-vulkan/CMakeLists.txt b/ggml/src/ggml-vulkan/CMakeLists.txt
index 2d9e85794..5aeb6e97b 100644
--- a/ggml/src/ggml-vulkan/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/ggml/src/ggml-vulkan/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -108,6 +108,9 @@ if (Vulkan_FOUND)
 
     if (GGML_VULKAN_CHECK_RESULTS)
         add_compile_definitions(GGML_VULKAN_CHECK_RESULTS)
+        # the result-checking path computes a CPU reference graph via
+        # ggml_graph_compute_with_ctx(), which is defined in ggml-cpu
+        target_link_libraries(ggml-vulkan PRIVATE ggml-cpu)
     endif()
 
     if (GGML_VULKAN_DEBUG)
@@ -129,6 +132,8 @@ if (Vulkan_FOUND)
 
     if (GGML_VULKAN_RUN_TESTS)
         add_compile_definitions(GGML_VULKAN_RUN_TESTS)
+        # the test path also calls ggml_graph_compute_with_ctx() (ggml-cpu)
+        target_link_libraries(ggml-vulkan PRIVATE ggml-cpu)
     endif()
 
     # Set up toolchain for host compilation whether cross-compiling or not