diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 9372742f86..ec73acfa9a 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -383,6 +383,21 @@ subdir-dtc: .git-submodule-status dtc/libfdt dtc/tests
 dtc/%: .git-submodule-status
 	mkdir -p $@
 
+# Overriding CFLAGS causes us to lose defines added in the sub-makefile.
+# Not overriding CFLAGS leads to mis-matches between compilation modes.
+# Therefore we replicate some of the logic in the sub-makefile.
+# Remove all the extra -Warning flags that QEMU uses that Capstone doesn't;
+# no need to annoy QEMU developers with such things.
+CAP_CFLAGS = $(patsubst -W%,,$(CFLAGS) $(QEMU_CFLAGS))
+CAP_CFLAGS += -DCAPSTONE_USE_SYS_DYN_MEM
+CAP_CFLAGS += -DCAPSTONE_HAS_ARM
+CAP_CFLAGS += -DCAPSTONE_HAS_ARM64
+CAP_CFLAGS += -DCAPSTONE_HAS_POWERPC
+CAP_CFLAGS += -DCAPSTONE_HAS_X86
+
+subdir-capstone: .git-submodule-status
+	$(call quiet-command,$(MAKE) -C $(SRC_PATH)/capstone CAPSTONE_SHARED=no BUILDDIR="$(BUILD_DIR)/capstone" CC="$(CC)" AR="$(AR)" LD="$(LD)" CFLAGS="$(CAP_CFLAGS)" $(SUBDIR_MAKEFLAGS) $(BUILD_DIR)/capstone/$(LIBCAPSTONE))
+
 $(SUBDIR_RULES): libqemuutil.a $(common-obj-y) $(chardev-obj-y) \
 	$(qom-obj-y) $(crypto-aes-obj-$(CONFIG_USER_ONLY))
 
diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index 7c981a42b6..1500579638 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -37,3 +37,6 @@
 [submodule "ui/keycodemapdb"]
 	path = ui/keycodemapdb
 	url = git://git.qemu.org/keycodemapdb.git
+[submodule "capstone"]
+	path = capstone
+	url = git://git.qemu.org/capstone.git
diff --git a/capstone b/capstone
new file mode 160000
index 0000000000..22ead3e0bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/capstone
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 22ead3e0bfdb87516656453336160e0a37b066bf
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index d06ad64058..23eddc2f50 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1299,6 +1299,10 @@ for opt do
   ;;
   --enable-capstone) capstone="yes"
   ;;
+  --enable-capstone=git) capstone="git"
+  ;;
+  --enable-capstone=system) capstone="system"
+  ;;
   *)
       echo "ERROR: unknown option $opt"
       echo "Try '$0 --help' for more information"
@@ -4419,18 +4423,54 @@ fi
 ##########################################
 # capstone
 
-if test "$capstone" != no; then
-  if $pkg_config capstone; then
-    capstone=yes
+case "$capstone" in
+  "" | yes)
+    if $pkg_config capstone; then
+      capstone=system
+    elif test -e "${source_path}/.git" ; then
+      capstone=git
+    elif test -e "${source_path}/capstone/Makefile" ; then
+      capstone=internal
+    elif test -z "$capstone" ; then
+      capstone=no
+    else
+      feature_not_found "capstone" "Install capstone devel or git submodule"
+    fi
+    ;;
+
+  system)
+    if ! $pkg_config capstone; then
+      feature_not_found "capstone" "Install capstone devel"
+    fi
+    ;;
+esac
+
+case "$capstone" in
+  git | internal)
+    if test "$capstone" = git; then
+      git_submodules="${git_submodules} capstone"
+    fi
+    mkdir -p capstone
+    QEMU_CFLAGS="$QEMU_CFLAGS -I\$(SRC_PATH)/capstone/include"
+    if test "$mingw32" = "yes"; then
+      LIBCAPSTONE=capstone.lib
+    else
+      LIBCAPSTONE=libcapstone.a
+    fi
+    LIBS="-L\$(BUILD_DIR)/capstone -lcapstone $LIBS"
+    ;;
+
+  system)
     QEMU_CFLAGS="$QEMU_CFLAGS $($pkg_config --cflags capstone)"
     LIBS="$($pkg_config --libs capstone) $LIBS"
-  else
-    if test "$capstone" = yes; then
-      feature_not_found capstone
-    fi
-    capstone=no
-  fi
-fi
+    ;;
+
+  no)
+    ;;
+  *)
+    error_exit "Unknown state for capstone: $capstone"
+    ;;
+esac
 
 ##########################################
 # check if we have fdatasync
@@ -6165,7 +6205,7 @@ fi
 if test "$ivshmem" = "yes" ; then
   echo "CONFIG_IVSHMEM=y" >> $config_host_mak
 fi
-if test "$capstone" = "yes" ; then
+if test "$capstone" != "no" ; then
   echo "CONFIG_CAPSTONE=y" >> $config_host_mak
 fi
 
@@ -6650,6 +6690,12 @@ done # for target in $targets
 if [ "$dtc_internal" = "yes" ]; then
   echo "config-host.h: subdir-dtc" >> $config_host_mak
 fi
+if [ "$capstone" = "git" -o "$capstone" = "internal" ]; then
+  echo "config-host.h: subdir-capstone" >> $config_host_mak
+fi
+if test -n "$LIBCAPSTONE"; then
+  echo "LIBCAPSTONE=$LIBCAPSTONE" >> $config_host_mak
+fi
 
 if test "$numa" = "yes"; then
   echo "CONFIG_NUMA=y" >> $config_host_mak
