diff --git a/src/core/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/src/core/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index de58ad18f9a..cba7fcf6808 100644
--- a/src/core/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/core/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 #
 
-if(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID STREQUAL "GNU")
+if(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID STREQUAL "GNU" AND NOT ENABLE_SANITIZER)
+    # gold linker on ubuntu20.04 may fail to link binaries build with sanitizer
     set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -fuse-ld=gold")
     set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -fuse-ld=gold")
 endif()
diff --git a/src/tests_deprecated/unit/CMakeLists.txt b/src/tests_deprecated/unit/CMakeLists.txt
index 7184853e195..9c5a997f4a9 100644
--- a/src/tests_deprecated/unit/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/tests_deprecated/unit/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -124,7 +124,8 @@ target_link_libraries(${TARGET_NAME} PRIVATE
     inference_engine_lp_transformations
     )
 
-if(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID STREQUAL "GNU")
+if(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID STREQUAL "GNU" AND NOT ENABLE_SANITIZER)
+    # gold linker on ubuntu20.04 may fail to link binaries build with sanitizer
     set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} -fuse-ld=gold")
     set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -fuse-ld=gold")
 endif()