diff --git a/linux-user/mmap.c b/linux-user/mmap.c
index 48e1373796..4e7a6be6ee 100644
--- a/linux-user/mmap.c
+++ b/linux-user/mmap.c
@@ -835,3 +835,67 @@ abi_long target_mremap(abi_ulong old_addr, abi_ulong old_size,
     mmap_unlock();
     return new_addr;
 }
+
+static bool can_passthrough_madv_dontneed(abi_ulong start, abi_ulong end)
+{
+    ulong addr;
+
+    if ((start | end) & ~qemu_host_page_mask) {
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    for (addr = start; addr < end; addr += TARGET_PAGE_SIZE) {
+        if (!(page_get_flags(addr) & PAGE_ANON)) {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+
+    return true;
+}
+
+abi_long target_madvise(abi_ulong start, abi_ulong len_in, int advice)
+{
+    abi_ulong len, end;
+    int ret = 0;
+
+    if (start & ~TARGET_PAGE_MASK) {
+        return -TARGET_EINVAL;
+    }
+    len = TARGET_PAGE_ALIGN(len_in);
+
+    if (len_in && !len) {
+        return -TARGET_EINVAL;
+    }
+
+    end = start + len;
+    if (end < start) {
+        return -TARGET_EINVAL;
+    }
+
+    if (end == start) {
+        return 0;
+    }
+
+    if (!guest_range_valid_untagged(start, len)) {
+        return -TARGET_EINVAL;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * A straight passthrough may not be safe because qemu sometimes turns
+     * private file-backed mappings into anonymous mappings.
+     *
+     * This is a hint, so ignoring and returning success is ok.
+     *
+     * This breaks MADV_DONTNEED, completely implementing which is quite
+     * complicated. However, there is one low-hanging fruit: host-page-aligned
+     * anonymous mappings. In this case passthrough is safe, so do it.
+     */
+    mmap_lock();
+    if ((advice & MADV_DONTNEED) &&
+        can_passthrough_madv_dontneed(start, end)) {
+        ret = get_errno(madvise(g2h_untagged(start), len, MADV_DONTNEED));
+    }
+    mmap_unlock();
+
+    return ret;
+}
diff --git a/linux-user/syscall.c b/linux-user/syscall.c
index f55cdebee5..8f68f255c0 100644
--- a/linux-user/syscall.c
+++ b/linux-user/syscall.c
@@ -538,7 +538,7 @@ static inline int target_to_host_errno(int target_errno)
     }
 }
 
-static inline abi_long get_errno(abi_long ret)
+abi_long get_errno(abi_long ret)
 {
     if (ret == -1)
         return -host_to_target_errno(errno);
@@ -11807,11 +11807,7 @@ static abi_long do_syscall1(CPUArchState *cpu_env, int num, abi_long arg1,
 
 #ifdef TARGET_NR_madvise
     case TARGET_NR_madvise:
-        /* A straight passthrough may not be safe because qemu sometimes
-           turns private file-backed mappings into anonymous mappings.
-           This will break MADV_DONTNEED.
-           This is a hint, so ignoring and returning success is ok.  */
-        return 0;
+        return target_madvise(arg1, arg2, arg3);
 #endif
 #ifdef TARGET_NR_fcntl64
     case TARGET_NR_fcntl64:
diff --git a/linux-user/user-internals.h b/linux-user/user-internals.h
index 6175ce53db..0280e76add 100644
--- a/linux-user/user-internals.h
+++ b/linux-user/user-internals.h
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ abi_long do_syscall(CPUArchState *cpu_env, int num, abi_long arg1,
                     abi_long arg8);
 extern __thread CPUState *thread_cpu;
 G_NORETURN void cpu_loop(CPUArchState *env);
+abi_long get_errno(abi_long ret);
 const char *target_strerror(int err);
 int get_osversion(void);
 void init_qemu_uname_release(void);
diff --git a/linux-user/user-mmap.h b/linux-user/user-mmap.h
index d1dec99c02..480ce1c114 100644
--- a/linux-user/user-mmap.h
+++ b/linux-user/user-mmap.h
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ int target_munmap(abi_ulong start, abi_ulong len);
 abi_long target_mremap(abi_ulong old_addr, abi_ulong old_size,
                        abi_ulong new_size, unsigned long flags,
                        abi_ulong new_addr);
+abi_long target_madvise(abi_ulong start, abi_ulong len_in, int advice);
 extern unsigned long last_brk;
 extern abi_ulong mmap_next_start;
 abi_ulong mmap_find_vma(abi_ulong, abi_ulong, abi_ulong);