diff --git a/cmake/app/boilerplate.cmake b/cmake/app/boilerplate.cmake
index 7b14aa6e543..b76430e3d8b 100644
--- a/cmake/app/boilerplate.cmake
+++ b/cmake/app/boilerplate.cmake
@@ -190,7 +190,9 @@ endif()
 
 add_custom_target(
   pristine
-  COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -P ${ZEPHYR_BASE}/cmake/pristine.cmake
+  COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -DBINARY_DIR=${APPLICATION_BINARY_DIR}
+          -DSOURCE_DIR=${APPLICATION_SOURCE_DIR}
+          -P ${ZEPHYR_BASE}/cmake/pristine.cmake
   # Equivalent to rm -rf build/*
   )
 
diff --git a/cmake/pristine.cmake b/cmake/pristine.cmake
index 4e56c05ea6c..aeefd270811 100644
--- a/cmake/pristine.cmake
+++ b/cmake/pristine.cmake
@@ -1,15 +1,38 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
-# NB: This could be dangerous to execute, it is assuming the user is
-# checking that the build is out-of-source with code like this:
-#
-# if(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} STREQUAL ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR})
-#   message(FATAL_ERROR "Source directory equals build directory.\
-#  In-source builds are not supported.\
-#  Please specify a build directory, e.g. cmake -Bbuild -H.")
-# endif()
+# NB: This could be dangerous to execute.
 
-file(GLOB build_dir_contents ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/*)
+macro(print_usage)
+  message("
+usage: cmake -DBINARY_DIR=<build-path> -DSOURCE_DIR=<source-path>
+             -P ${CMAKE_SCRIPT_MODE_FILE}
+
+mandatory arguments:
+  -DBINARY_DIR=<build-path>:  Absolute path to the build directory to pristine
+  -DSOURCE_DIR=<source-path>: Absolute path to the source directory used when
+                              creating <build-path>
+")
+  # Making the usage itself a fatal error messes up the formatting when printing.
+  message(FATAL_ERROR "")
+endmacro()
+
+if(NOT DEFINED BINARY_DIR OR NOT DEFINED SOURCE_DIR)
+  print_usage()
+endif()
+
+if(NOT IS_ABSOLUTE ${BINARY_DIR} OR NOT IS_ABSOLUTE ${SOURCE_DIR})
+  print_usage()
+endif()
+
+get_filename_component(BINARY_DIR ${BINARY_DIR} REALPATH)
+get_filename_component(SOURCE_DIR ${SOURCE_DIR} REALPATH)
+
+string(FIND ${SOURCE_DIR} ${BINARY_DIR} INDEX)
+if(NOT INDEX EQUAL -1)
+  message(FATAL_ERROR "Refusing to run pristine in in-source build folder.")
+endif()
+
+file(GLOB build_dir_contents ${BINARY_DIR}/*)
 foreach(file ${build_dir_contents})
   if (EXISTS ${file})
      file(REMOVE_RECURSE ${file})
diff --git a/scripts/west_commands/build.py b/scripts/west_commands/build.py
index 29264ee211c..2b2e3083bf6 100644
--- a/scripts/west_commands/build.py
+++ b/scripts/west_commands/build.py
@@ -421,7 +421,13 @@ class Build(Forceable):
                     'Zephyr build system')
 
         cache = CMakeCache.from_build_dir(self.build_dir)
-        cmake_args = ['-P', cache['ZEPHYR_BASE'] + '/cmake/pristine.cmake']
+
+        app_src_dir = cache.get('APPLICATION_SOURCE_DIR')
+        app_bin_dir = cache.get('APPLICATION_BINARY_DIR')
+
+        cmake_args = [f'-DBINARY_DIR={app_bin_dir}',
+                      f'-DSOURCE_DIR={app_src_dir}',
+                      '-P', cache['ZEPHYR_BASE'] + '/cmake/pristine.cmake']
         run_cmake(cmake_args, cwd=self.build_dir, dry_run=self.args.dry_run)
 
     def _run_build(self, target):