diff --git a/include/hw/loader.h b/include/hw/loader.h
index 1384796a4b3..c4c14170ea3 100644
--- a/include/hw/loader.h
+++ b/include/hw/loader.h
@@ -86,6 +86,25 @@ ssize_t load_image_gzipped_buffer(const char *filename, uint64_t max_sz,
                                   uint8_t **buffer);
 ssize_t load_image_gzipped(const char *filename, hwaddr addr, uint64_t max_sz);
 
+/**
+ * unpack_efi_zboot_image:
+ * @buffer: pointer to a variable holding the address of a buffer containing the
+ *          image
+ * @size: pointer to a variable holding the size of the buffer
+ *
+ * Check whether the buffer contains a EFI zboot image, and if it does, extract
+ * the compressed payload and decompress it into a new buffer. If successful,
+ * the old buffer is freed, and the *buffer and size variables pointed to by the
+ * function arguments are updated to refer to the newly populated buffer.
+ *
+ * Returns 0 if the image could not be identified as a EFI zboot image.
+ * Returns -1 if the buffer contents were identified as a EFI zboot image, but
+ * unpacking failed for any reason.
+ * Returns the size of the decompressed payload if decompression was performed
+ * successfully.
+ */
+ssize_t unpack_efi_zboot_image(uint8_t **buffer, int *size);
+
 #define ELF_LOAD_FAILED       -1
 #define ELF_LOAD_NOT_ELF      -2
 #define ELF_LOAD_WRONG_ARCH   -3
diff --git a/hw/arm/boot.c b/hw/arm/boot.c
index 1e021c4a340..50e5141116b 100644
--- a/hw/arm/boot.c
+++ b/hw/arm/boot.c
@@ -926,6 +926,12 @@ static uint64_t load_aarch64_image(const char *filename, hwaddr mem_base,
             return -1;
         }
         size = len;
+
+        /* Unpack the image if it is a EFI zboot image */
+        if (unpack_efi_zboot_image(&buffer, &size) < 0) {
+            g_free(buffer);
+            return -1;
+        }
     }
 
     /* check the arm64 magic header value -- very old kernels may not have it */
diff --git a/hw/core/loader.c b/hw/core/loader.c
index 173f8f67f6e..cd53235fed9 100644
--- a/hw/core/loader.c
+++ b/hw/core/loader.c
@@ -857,6 +857,97 @@ ssize_t load_image_gzipped(const char *filename, hwaddr addr, uint64_t max_sz)
     return bytes;
 }
 
+/* The PE/COFF MS-DOS stub magic number */
+#define EFI_PE_MSDOS_MAGIC        "MZ"
+
+/*
+ * The Linux header magic number for a EFI PE/COFF
+ * image targetting an unspecified architecture.
+ */
+#define EFI_PE_LINUX_MAGIC        "\xcd\x23\x82\x81"
+
+/*
+ * Bootable Linux kernel images may be packaged as EFI zboot images, which are
+ * self-decompressing executables when loaded via EFI. The compressed payload
+ * can also be extracted from the image and decompressed by a non-EFI loader.
+ *
+ * The de facto specification for this format is at the following URL:
+ *
+ * https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/firmware/efi/libstub/zboot-header.S
+ *
+ * This definition is based on Linux upstream commit 29636a5ce87beba.
+ */
+struct linux_efi_zboot_header {
+    uint8_t     msdos_magic[2];         /* PE/COFF 'MZ' magic number */
+    uint8_t     reserved0[2];
+    uint8_t     zimg[4];                /* "zimg" for Linux EFI zboot images */
+    uint32_t    payload_offset;         /* LE offset to compressed payload */
+    uint32_t    payload_size;           /* LE size of the compressed payload */
+    uint8_t     reserved1[8];
+    char        compression_type[32];   /* Compression type, NUL terminated */
+    uint8_t     linux_magic[4];         /* Linux header magic */
+    uint32_t    pe_header_offset;       /* LE offset to the PE header */
+};
+
+/*
+ * Check whether *buffer points to a Linux EFI zboot image in memory.
+ *
+ * If it does, attempt to decompress it to a new buffer, and free the old one.
+ * If any of this fails, return an error to the caller.
+ *
+ * If the image is not a Linux EFI zboot image, do nothing and return success.
+ */
+ssize_t unpack_efi_zboot_image(uint8_t **buffer, int *size)
+{
+    const struct linux_efi_zboot_header *header;
+    uint8_t *data = NULL;
+    int ploff, plsize;
+    ssize_t bytes;
+
+    /* ignore if this is too small to be a EFI zboot image */
+    if (*size < sizeof(*header)) {
+        return 0;
+    }
+
+    header = (struct linux_efi_zboot_header *)*buffer;
+
+    /* ignore if this is not a Linux EFI zboot image */
+    if (memcmp(&header->msdos_magic, EFI_PE_MSDOS_MAGIC, 2) != 0 ||
+        memcmp(&header->zimg, "zimg", 4) != 0 ||
+        memcmp(&header->linux_magic, EFI_PE_LINUX_MAGIC, 4) != 0) {
+        return 0;
+    }
+
+    if (strcmp(header->compression_type, "gzip") != 0) {
+        fprintf(stderr,
+                "unable to handle EFI zboot image with \"%.*s\" compression\n",
+                (int)sizeof(header->compression_type) - 1,
+                header->compression_type);
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    ploff = ldl_le_p(&header->payload_offset);
+    plsize = ldl_le_p(&header->payload_size);
+
+    if (ploff < 0 || plsize < 0 || ploff + plsize > *size) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "unable to handle corrupt EFI zboot image\n");
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    data = g_malloc(LOAD_IMAGE_MAX_GUNZIP_BYTES);
+    bytes = gunzip(data, LOAD_IMAGE_MAX_GUNZIP_BYTES, *buffer + ploff, plsize);
+    if (bytes < 0) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "failed to decompress EFI zboot image\n");
+        g_free(data);
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    g_free(*buffer);
+    *buffer = g_realloc(data, bytes);
+    *size = bytes;
+    return bytes;
+}
+
 /*
  * Functions for reboot-persistent memory regions.
  *  - used for vga bios and option roms.
