diff --git a/drivers/vhost/Kconfig b/drivers/vhost/Kconfig
index 017a1e8a8f6f..533eaf04f12f 100644
--- a/drivers/vhost/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/vhost/Kconfig
@@ -32,3 +32,18 @@ config VHOST
 	---help---
 	  This option is selected by any driver which needs to access
 	  the core of vhost.
+
+config VHOST_CROSS_ENDIAN_LEGACY
+	bool "Cross-endian support for vhost"
+	default n
+	---help---
+	  This option allows vhost to support guests with a different byte
+	  ordering from host while using legacy virtio.
+
+	  Userspace programs can control the feature using the
+	  VHOST_SET_VRING_ENDIAN and VHOST_GET_VRING_ENDIAN ioctls.
+
+	  This is only useful on a few platforms (ppc64 and arm64). Since it
+	  adds some overhead, it is disabled by default.
+
+	  If unsure, say "N".
diff --git a/drivers/vhost/vhost.c b/drivers/vhost/vhost.c
index 2ee28266fd07..9e8e004bb1c3 100644
--- a/drivers/vhost/vhost.c
+++ b/drivers/vhost/vhost.c
@@ -36,6 +36,77 @@ enum {
 #define vhost_used_event(vq) ((__virtio16 __user *)&vq->avail->ring[vq->num])
 #define vhost_avail_event(vq) ((__virtio16 __user *)&vq->used->ring[vq->num])
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_VHOST_CROSS_ENDIAN_LEGACY
+static void vhost_vq_reset_user_be(struct vhost_virtqueue *vq)
+{
+	vq->user_be = !virtio_legacy_is_little_endian();
+}
+
+static long vhost_set_vring_endian(struct vhost_virtqueue *vq, int __user *argp)
+{
+	struct vhost_vring_state s;
+
+	if (vq->private_data)
+		return -EBUSY;
+
+	if (copy_from_user(&s, argp, sizeof(s)))
+		return -EFAULT;
+
+	if (s.num != VHOST_VRING_LITTLE_ENDIAN &&
+	    s.num != VHOST_VRING_BIG_ENDIAN)
+		return -EINVAL;
+
+	vq->user_be = s.num;
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static long vhost_get_vring_endian(struct vhost_virtqueue *vq, u32 idx,
+				   int __user *argp)
+{
+	struct vhost_vring_state s = {
+		.index = idx,
+		.num = vq->user_be
+	};
+
+	if (copy_to_user(argp, &s, sizeof(s)))
+		return -EFAULT;
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static void vhost_init_is_le(struct vhost_virtqueue *vq)
+{
+	/* Note for legacy virtio: user_be is initialized at reset time
+	 * according to the host endianness. If userspace does not set an
+	 * explicit endianness, the default behavior is native endian, as
+	 * expected by legacy virtio.
+	 */
+	vq->is_le = vhost_has_feature(vq, VIRTIO_F_VERSION_1) || !vq->user_be;
+}
+#else
+static void vhost_vq_reset_user_be(struct vhost_virtqueue *vq)
+{
+}
+
+static long vhost_set_vring_endian(struct vhost_virtqueue *vq, int __user *argp)
+{
+	return -ENOIOCTLCMD;
+}
+
+static long vhost_get_vring_endian(struct vhost_virtqueue *vq, u32 idx,
+				   int __user *argp)
+{
+	return -ENOIOCTLCMD;
+}
+
+static void vhost_init_is_le(struct vhost_virtqueue *vq)
+{
+	if (vhost_has_feature(vq, VIRTIO_F_VERSION_1))
+		vq->is_le = true;
+}
+#endif /* CONFIG_VHOST_CROSS_ENDIAN_LEGACY */
+
 static void vhost_poll_func(struct file *file, wait_queue_head_t *wqh,
 			    poll_table *pt)
 {
@@ -199,6 +270,8 @@ static void vhost_vq_reset(struct vhost_dev *dev,
 	vq->call = NULL;
 	vq->log_ctx = NULL;
 	vq->memory = NULL;
+	vq->is_le = virtio_legacy_is_little_endian();
+	vhost_vq_reset_user_be(vq);
 }
 
 static int vhost_worker(void *data)
@@ -806,6 +879,12 @@ long vhost_vring_ioctl(struct vhost_dev *d, int ioctl, void __user *argp)
 		} else
 			filep = eventfp;
 		break;
+	case VHOST_SET_VRING_ENDIAN:
+		r = vhost_set_vring_endian(vq, argp);
+		break;
+	case VHOST_GET_VRING_ENDIAN:
+		r = vhost_get_vring_endian(vq, idx, argp);
+		break;
 	default:
 		r = -ENOIOCTLCMD;
 	}
@@ -1044,8 +1123,12 @@ int vhost_init_used(struct vhost_virtqueue *vq)
 {
 	__virtio16 last_used_idx;
 	int r;
-	if (!vq->private_data)
+	if (!vq->private_data) {
+		vq->is_le = virtio_legacy_is_little_endian();
 		return 0;
+	}
+
+	vhost_init_is_le(vq);
 
 	r = vhost_update_used_flags(vq);
 	if (r)
diff --git a/drivers/vhost/vhost.h b/drivers/vhost/vhost.h
index a4fa33a79bf2..ce6f6da4b09f 100644
--- a/drivers/vhost/vhost.h
+++ b/drivers/vhost/vhost.h
@@ -106,6 +106,14 @@ struct vhost_virtqueue {
 	/* Log write descriptors */
 	void __user *log_base;
 	struct vhost_log *log;
+
+	/* Ring endianness. Defaults to legacy native endianness.
+	 * Set to true when starting a modern virtio device. */
+	bool is_le;
+#ifdef CONFIG_VHOST_CROSS_ENDIAN_LEGACY
+	/* Ring endianness requested by userspace for cross-endian support. */
+	bool user_be;
+#endif
 };
 
 struct vhost_dev {
@@ -175,8 +183,7 @@ static inline bool vhost_has_feature(struct vhost_virtqueue *vq, int bit)
 
 static inline bool vhost_is_little_endian(struct vhost_virtqueue *vq)
 {
-	return vhost_has_feature(vq, VIRTIO_F_VERSION_1) ||
-		virtio_legacy_is_little_endian();
+	return vq->is_le;
 }
 
 /* Memory accessors */
diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/vhost.h b/include/uapi/linux/vhost.h
index bb6a5b4cb3c5..ab3731917bac 100644
--- a/include/uapi/linux/vhost.h
+++ b/include/uapi/linux/vhost.h
@@ -103,6 +103,20 @@ struct vhost_memory {
 /* Get accessor: reads index, writes value in num */
 #define VHOST_GET_VRING_BASE _IOWR(VHOST_VIRTIO, 0x12, struct vhost_vring_state)
 
+/* Set the vring byte order in num. Valid values are VHOST_VRING_LITTLE_ENDIAN
+ * or VHOST_VRING_BIG_ENDIAN (other values return -EINVAL).
+ * The byte order cannot be changed while the device is active: trying to do so
+ * returns -EBUSY.
+ * This is a legacy only API that is simply ignored when VIRTIO_F_VERSION_1 is
+ * set.
+ * Not all kernel configurations support this ioctl, but all configurations that
+ * support SET also support GET.
+ */
+#define VHOST_VRING_LITTLE_ENDIAN 0
+#define VHOST_VRING_BIG_ENDIAN 1
+#define VHOST_SET_VRING_ENDIAN _IOW(VHOST_VIRTIO, 0x13, struct vhost_vring_state)
+#define VHOST_GET_VRING_ENDIAN _IOW(VHOST_VIRTIO, 0x14, struct vhost_vring_state)
+
 /* The following ioctls use eventfd file descriptors to signal and poll
  * for events. */