diff --git a/arch/x86/boot/compressed/kaslr.c b/arch/x86/boot/compressed/kaslr.c
index 67c3208b668a..411b268bc0a2 100644
--- a/arch/x86/boot/compressed/kaslr.c
+++ b/arch/x86/boot/compressed/kaslr.c
@@ -32,10 +32,6 @@
 #include <generated/utsrelease.h>
 #include <asm/efi.h>
 
-/* Macros used by the included decompressor code below. */
-#define STATIC
-#include <linux/decompress/mm.h>
-
 #define _SETUP
 #include <asm/setup.h>	/* For COMMAND_LINE_SIZE */
 #undef _SETUP
diff --git a/arch/x86/boot/compressed/misc.c b/arch/x86/boot/compressed/misc.c
index 743f13ea25c1..a4339cb2d247 100644
--- a/arch/x86/boot/compressed/misc.c
+++ b/arch/x86/boot/compressed/misc.c
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@
 
 /* Macros used by the included decompressor code below. */
 #define STATIC		static
+/* Define an externally visible malloc()/free(). */
+#define MALLOC_VISIBLE
+#include <linux/decompress/mm.h>
 
 /*
  * Provide definitions of memzero and memmove as some of the decompressors will
diff --git a/arch/x86/boot/compressed/misc.h b/arch/x86/boot/compressed/misc.h
index 31139256859f..975ef4ae7395 100644
--- a/arch/x86/boot/compressed/misc.h
+++ b/arch/x86/boot/compressed/misc.h
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ extern char _head[], _end[];
 /* misc.c */
 extern memptr free_mem_ptr;
 extern memptr free_mem_end_ptr;
+void *malloc(int size);
+void free(void *where);
 extern struct boot_params *boot_params;
 void __putstr(const char *s);
 void __puthex(unsigned long value);
diff --git a/include/linux/decompress/mm.h b/include/linux/decompress/mm.h
index 868e9eacd69e..9192986b1a73 100644
--- a/include/linux/decompress/mm.h
+++ b/include/linux/decompress/mm.h
@@ -25,13 +25,21 @@
 #define STATIC_RW_DATA static
 #endif
 
+/*
+ * When an architecture needs to share the malloc()/free() implementation
+ * between compilation units, it needs to have non-local visibility.
+ */
+#ifndef MALLOC_VISIBLE
+#define MALLOC_VISIBLE static
+#endif
+
 /* A trivial malloc implementation, adapted from
  *  malloc by Hannu Savolainen 1993 and Matthias Urlichs 1994
  */
 STATIC_RW_DATA unsigned long malloc_ptr;
 STATIC_RW_DATA int malloc_count;
 
-static void *malloc(int size)
+MALLOC_VISIBLE void *malloc(int size)
 {
 	void *p;
 
@@ -52,7 +60,7 @@ static void *malloc(int size)
 	return p;
 }
 
-static void free(void *where)
+MALLOC_VISIBLE void free(void *where)
 {
 	malloc_count--;
 	if (!malloc_count)