diff --git a/arch/mips/Kconfig b/arch/mips/Kconfig
index 7cb5f6dbaeee..a2ee09c8056f 100644
--- a/arch/mips/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/mips/Kconfig
@@ -2702,6 +2702,24 @@ choice
 		  look like a DTB header after a reboot if no actual DTB is appended
 		  to vmlinux.bin.  Do not leave this option active in a production kernel
 		  if you don't intend to always append a DTB.
+
+	config MIPS_ZBOOT_APPENDED_DTB
+		bool "vmlinuz.bin"
+		depends on SYS_SUPPORTS_ZBOOT
+		help
+		  With this option, the boot code will look for a device tree binary
+		  DTB) appended to raw vmlinuz.bin (with decompressor).
+		  (e.g. cat vmlinuz.bin <filename>.dtb > vmlinuz_w_dtb).
+
+		  This is meant as a backward compatibility convenience for those
+		  systems with a bootloader that can't be upgraded to accommodate
+		  the documented boot protocol using a device tree.
+
+		  Beware that there is very little in terms of protection against
+		  this option being confused by leftover garbage in memory that might
+		  look like a DTB header after a reboot if no actual DTB is appended
+		  to vmlinuz.bin.  Do not leave this option active in a production kernel
+		  if you don't intend to always append a DTB.
 endchoice
 
 endmenu
diff --git a/arch/mips/boot/compressed/head.S b/arch/mips/boot/compressed/head.S
index 409cb483a9ff..c580e853b9fb 100644
--- a/arch/mips/boot/compressed/head.S
+++ b/arch/mips/boot/compressed/head.S
@@ -25,6 +25,22 @@ start:
 	move	s2, a2
 	move	s3, a3
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_MIPS_ZBOOT_APPENDED_DTB
+	PTR_LA	t0, __appended_dtb
+#ifdef CONFIG_CPU_BIG_ENDIAN
+	li	t1, 0xd00dfeed
+#else
+	li	t1, 0xedfe0dd0
+#endif
+	lw	t2, (t0)
+	bne	t1, t2, not_found
+	 nop
+
+	move	s1, t0
+	PTR_LI	s0, -2
+not_found:
+#endif
+
 	/* Clear BSS */
 	PTR_LA	a0, _edata
 	PTR_LA	a2, _end
diff --git a/arch/mips/boot/compressed/ld.script b/arch/mips/boot/compressed/ld.script
index 5a33409c7f63..2ed08fbef8e7 100644
--- a/arch/mips/boot/compressed/ld.script
+++ b/arch/mips/boot/compressed/ld.script
@@ -29,8 +29,12 @@ SECTIONS
 		*(.image)
 		__image_end = .;
 		CONSTRUCTORS
+		. = ALIGN(16);
 	}
-	. = ALIGN(16);
+	__appended_dtb = .;
+	/* leave space for appended DTB */
+	. += 0x100000;
+
 	_edata = .;
 	/* End of data section */